The Golden Renaissance, Part 1

Program: #23-17   Air Date: Apr 24, 2023

NOTE: All of the music on this program comes from the recording The Golden Renaissance: Josquin des Prez featuring the ensemble Stile Antico. It is on the Decca label and is CD No. 028948513406.

Stile Antico launches a trilogy of recordings on the Decca label with a portrait of Josquin des Prez, marking the 500th anniversary of the composer’s death. The superb Missa Pange lingua forms the centrepiece of a varied sequence of motets and chansons, including some of Josquin’s best loved music – Ave Maria, virgo serena and Inviolata, integra et casta es Maria – as well as the premiere recording of the chanson Vivrai je tousjours. Two works dedicated to Josquin’s memory, by Hieronymus Vinders and Jacquet de Mantua, complete this sumptuous programme.

From Music Web International:

This release is marked as “the first in a trilogy of recordings celebrating great composers of the Renaissance”, and with Stile Antico’s exploration of the music of Josquin des Prez as a standard bearer this is very much going to be an edition to look out for. This ensemble has previously recorded more than one album for the Harmonia Mundi label (review ~ review), and with three GRAMMY nominations and numerous performances at prestigious venues they are well established as one of the leading vocal specialists in Renaissance repertoire. All sung texts are provided in the booklet with English, German and French translations, though make sure you have your reading glasses to hand as the typeface is quite small.

The programme opens with the five-voice Salve Regina, but the main work here is Josquin’s Missa Pange Lingua, which is thought to be his last mass setting. This is interspersed with other motets and lighter pieces such as El grillo or ‘the cricket’, and while this might seem a bit odd the contrasts are welcome if you take this programme as an immersive listening experience. The tracks of the mass are listed together on the back of the CD cover, so you can easily find and programme them into your machine if you seek just the Missa Pange Lingua. Another interloper is listed as a world première recording, the chanson Vivrai je toujours being “a work of extremely dubious authenticity” according to musicologist David Fallows. The programme is rounded off with Hieronymous Vinders’ seven-voice lament for Josquin O mors inevitabilis, which “sounds like nothing Josquin wrote” but, like Jacquet of Mantua in his motet Dum vastos Adrius fluctus, acknowledges and pays homage to Josquin through quotes from his music.

The Missa Pange Lingua has of course been recorded many times, but Stile Antico’s performance can stand comparison with and indeed rises above many alternatives. Kammerchor Josquin des Préz on the Carus label (review) is atmospheric and a little more ‘religious’ in feel, keeping a layer of mystery where Stile Antico is a touch more extrovert. The Choir of Clare College, Cambridge on Harmonia Mundi (review) switches between choral volume and solo voices for textural contrast, and while this works well enough the effect can be an acquired taste. Stile Antico’s poise and beauty of sound is hard to beat, and there is plenty of character amongst the voices, at times with some healthy vibrato, to give each moment its own inner life. Which you prefer will in the end be up to your own personal taste, and it is always a joy to encounter each new approach. With this recording you can be sure that each phrase has been given every care and loving attention, and the entire listening experience is a glorious one, all 83 minutes of it.

Dominy Clements

Composer Info

Josquin des Prez (c.1450/55-1521), Hieronymous Vinders (fl.1525-26), Jacquet of Mantua (1483-1559)

CD Info

Decca label CD No. 028948513406