Search - Francisco Valls, John Hoban (director), Thames Chamber Orchestra :: Francisco Valls: Mass "Scala Aretina"

Exceptional Baroque Recording

J. Burton | 03/29/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"John Hoban directs the Thames Chamber Orchestra with the London Oratory Choir led by John Bacon in a performance on the Mass Scala Aretina by the Spanish composer Francisco Valls (1665-1747).



"Most revivals on disk of music by forgotten composers are disappointing. They were forgotten for a reason. This is an exception. The Misa Scala Aretina by Valls is a work of exceptional quality, comparable to the best church music by Mozart and Bach. Good performance too. The mass is written on the 6 note scale of Guido d'Arezzo, not a very promising theme, one would have thought, but it certainly works. It also used dissonances which were regarded as unacceptable according to the conventions of the time and led to a Europe-wide controversy. Valls wrote many other masses, but only the Misa Scala Aretina remained in the repertory during the 18th Century. If his other works compare in quality to this one, it is to be hoped that they too will be revived. Valls apparently wrote a further mass on the Scala Aretina towards the end of his life - the Misa Regalis." (Anonymous, Amazon.com)

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Review (from Gramophone)

Slobberer | Astoria, NY United States | 01/01/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Francisco Valls Spanish 1665-1747

Valls: Mass, "Scala Aretina". Mavis Beattie, Valeric Hill, Nancy Long (sops); Christopher Robson, Ashley Stafford (altos); Edgar Fleet (ten); Antony Shelley (bar); London Oratory Choir; Thames Chamber Orchestra / John Hoban. CRD © CRD3371 (43 minutes: ADD: 9/95). Text and translation included. From CRD1071 (11/80).



It was indeed enterprising of John Hoban in 1978 to perform in Barcelona this 1702 Mass by the rarely heard Catalan musician Francisco Vails (then maestro de capilla in the cathedral there) based on Guido d'Arezzo's hexachord, and then to record it. The fervour, vitality and shading of this performance more than compensate for a few small flaws of ensemble. The work's use of expressive unprepared dissonances and bold modulations (still surprising today) caused long-running controversy among the composer's contemporaries, which he countered with a theoretical treatise

entitled Mapa armonico. What is disappointing is the failure of other conductors to follow Hoban's lead and explore the very considerable range of Valls's other works (including nine more Masses, 17 psalms, 30 motets and much else) preserved in the Biblioteca Central in Barcelona.



A feature of this particular work is its scoring for three choirs (each with their own continue) plus a separate instrumental group of violins, oboes, trumpets and violone, the spatial layout lending the elaborate polyphony a special richness. Valls knew how to create striking effects, such as - in the Credo alone - the overlapping solo sopranos at "Deum de Deo", the running scales behind "Et in unum Dominum", the remarkable harmonic progression at "passus et sepultus est", the sheer jubilation of "et resurrexit", and a magnificent Amen (the trumpets, splendid throughout, much in evidence). However, the gem of the work is the deeply moving Agnus Dei.



Further listening...

...En un noble, sagrado firmamento. Coupled with works by J. de Torres, C, Galan, Literes,

Anonymous and F. de Iribarren Al Ayre Espanol / Eduardo Lopez Banzo. Deutsche Harmonia Mundi 05472 77325-2 (8/95)."