Search - Josquin Desprez, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Gottfried Preinfalk :: Desprez-Palestrina Motets/Masses

Well, at least it was only $4

John N. Tozzi | Easthampton, MA United States | 09/10/2003

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I bought this disk as it was an Amazon recommendation after purchasing another disk.Such wonderful music, but such a questionable chorus. The primary problem is a vibrato in the tenor section that is beautifully appropriate for Pucinni but essentially ruins these performances. It's a shame as there is some good work happening in the direction, but overall, the performance never quite gets better than a good church choir."

Painfully Unfortunate

James D. Ahrens | Minneapolis, MN USA | 07/02/2007

(1 out of 5 stars)

"This disc offers worse-than-undistinguished rendition of two Josquin motets, and adequate renderings of two Palestrina masses.



The Josquin motets are just plain poorly done, by a choir that is clearly not up to the task. THe works are also poorly recorded. For some reason, they have added brass doubling on the parts. I've not heard much doubling of this kind in polyphony of this period, and this recording tells me why. It is very intrusive,at least as rendered by the Collegium Musicum Aldovadensis. A prior reviewer's comment on the "Puccini-esque" nature of the tenor section is quite appropriate. Somehow, having a chorus of Pavarotti wannabes singing Josquin doesn't work too well.



The Palestrina masses are significantly better. The Austrian Radio Choir is a much more competent ensemble than the previous group -- but there are just too many singers for them to render works of this period well. The second mass also features some unnecessary and obtrusive brass doubling, although it's not as poorly done in this instance as it was for the Josquin.



This recording is not worth the time it takes to listen to it. While the Palestrina is acceptable, the Josquin is just plain painful. If you're looking for bargain polyphony, the Naxos label has some excellent performances of this repertoire at a comparative price. Don't bother with this one."