Search - Perotin, Plainchant, Anonymous :: Messe de la Nativite de la Vierge - Ecole Notre Dame /Ensemble Organum * Peres

Breathtaking

Geoffrey Rommel | Illinois | 09/11/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Of the many recordings of early music I have heard over the years, this stands out as one of the best. Marcel Péres and his ensemble, singing directly from the manuscripts, perform the proper music for an entire Mass in honor of the Blessed Virgin. The Gregorian chant is very well performed, but the polyphony from the Notre Dame school is a revelation. Two movements (the gradual "Benedicta" and the closing "Benedicamus Domino") are in Leonin style: simple organum based on existing chant melodies. The descant in these is powerfully rendered by Lycourgos Angelopoulos. The rest are either anonymous or by Perotin, who was director of music at Notre Dame about 1200 and one of the greatest composers of the Middle Ages. The four-voice conductus "Deus misertus" (track 2) is particularly moving. This CD breathes the true spirit of the Age of Faith."

Breathtaking

Geoffrey Rommel | 08/02/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Probably a lot of Church musicians were experimenting with polyphony in the 12th and 13th centuries, but only a few manuscripts survive to tell us what it sounded like. Among the most famous are those devoted to the "Notre-Dame school", specifically Leonin and Perotin, two directors of music at Notre-Dame de Paris. This is by far the best recording I have heard of this repertoire: it sounds like a real Mass rather than like professional musicians exhuming the past, and it transports you immediately to the Middle Ages. The second cut (Deus misertus), in four voices, is especially striking. Buy this one!!"