Search - Josquin Desprez, Cipriano de Rore, The Tallis Scholars :: Cipriano de Rore: Missa Praeter rerum seriem

Beyond the order of this world...

FrKurt Messick | Bloomington, IN USA | 07/22/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"--Cipriano de Rore--

Peter Philips describes Cipriano de Rore (1515-1565) as a true successor to the great composer Josquin des Pres. He was a great composer of madrigals, a great predecessor to Monteverdi, and also composed widely in the area of sacred and liturgical music. De Rore studied in Flanders as well as Italy, working in Venice in court of Ferrara for much of his career. Cipriano de Rore died fairly young; despite this, his output was prodigious; five masses and 80 motets in addition to his vast number of popular madrigals.



--Missa Praeter rerum seriem--

Like Cipriano de Rore's other masses, this one shows a madrigal influence. It was composed for Duke Ercole II d'Este while in Ferrara. It is based on Josquin's Christmas motet 'Praeter rerum serium' (included on this disc), one of Josquin's very best motets. It is a very elaborate parody mass. Josquin's piece was originally a six-voice motet; Rore adds a seventh voice, an additional soprano, that makes things much brighter, edging toward Baroque qualities.



--Motets--

There are four motets included on the disc, very much in the style of Franco-Flemish polyphony. This is very different from madrigal style. Two are canonical compositions - Ave Regina caelorum and Descendi in hortum meum; two are penitential works - Infelix ego and Parce mihi. The penitential works have a sombre quality; the other two are brighter, scored for seven voices rather than six.



--Liner Notes--

Being internationally acclaimed, the Tallis Scholars' CDs typically present their commentary and texts in English, French, German and Italian (together with any Latin texts); that is true of this disc. The cover art also typically represents visual arts contemporary with the compositions - here the piece is 'The Madonna and Child' by Giovanni Bellini, an artist of the generation prior to Cipriano de Rore.



--The Tallis Scholars--

The Tallis Scholars, a favourite group of mine since the first time I heard them decades ago, are a group dedicated to the performance and preservation of the best of this type of music. A choral group of exceptional ability, I have been privileged to see them many times in public, and at almost every performance, their singing seems almost like a spiritual epiphany for me, one that defies explanation in words. Directed by Peter Phillips, the group consists of a small number of male and female singers who have trained themselves well to their task.



Their recordings are of a consistent quality that deserve more than five stars; this particular disc of pieces by Cipriano de Rore and Josquin des Pres is worthy of a place on the shelf of anyone who loves choral music, liturgical music or Gregorian chant, classical music generally, or religious music. It is truly wonderful, both in composition and performance. The original recording was made in 1994 in the church of St. Peter and St. Paul, Salle, Norfolk, one of their favourite recording sites.



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There are better out there...

Musicus | Oslo, Norway | 11/15/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"De Rore's Missa Praeter rerum seriem is very substantial and if there weren't other performances, I would have recommended this one more full heartedly. But the performance of Huelgas Ensemble - Amazon search: B00006O8P7 - is much more passionate than The Tallis Scholars, who in comparison sound quite neutral here. Tallis Scholars are perhaps more straightforward. Their sound is somehow warm. However, there are not many recordings of De Rore, everyone is valuable, and this one have four motets by De Rore, too. (The CD by Huelgas has of course additional material, too, i.e. some other motets and madrigals, the latter are really ear-openers, for the more expressive qualities of that ensemble's performances.) The present record of Tallis Scholars is of course quite good, and it is remarkable that we have two good records of a work by De Rore; in fact we have McCreesh too, this mass is a part of his Venetian Christmas, but I don't know that performance."