Morales: O Magnum mysterium

Program: #24-50   Air Date: Dec 09, 2024

NB: All of the music on this program is from the release  O magnum mysterium: Christmas Motets by Cristobal de Morales. It features Weser-Renaissance conducted by Manfred Cordes and is CPO CD 777 820-2.

Yet another Christmas release features the Christmas vocal polyphony of Cristóbal de Morales, who is regarded as the first significant Spanish composer of the Renaissance. Like most compositions for this Christian feast, his Christmas motets circulated and were performed throughout Europe, traveling far beyond Spain's borders. His archaic, mystical, and expressive musical language, which one almost might term placeless and timeless, must have played a role in this dissemination. Moreover, Morales was active not only in Spanish cathedrals but also spent many years of his creative career as a papal singer in the Sistine Chapel in Rome. And it seems to have been precisely this individual blend of Spanish expressivity and Roman strictness — with its added Franco-Flemish stamp — that makes Morales' music so unique and qualifies him as the first genuine European composer of his times.

From Beauty in Ephemera: Cristobal de Morales was called "the light of Spain in music" and with good reason, as this new release demonstrates. Morales' counterpoint is transparent, and his settings easy to follow and understand. His music is both deeply expressive and ethereal in its beauty. This release presents fourteen of Morales' Christmas motets, but they're works that can be enjoyed for their on intrinsic merits any time of year. The Weser-Renaissance ensemble, directed by Manfred Cordes,  performs in an almost self-effacing manner, with clean, unwavering tones. This clarity gives these works an almost other-worldly purity that I think captures the essence of Morales’ intent.