Search - Ockeghem, Wickham :: Missa De Plus En Plus

Idiomatic

hcf | 10/09/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Clerks' Group have earned their place in the early music hall of fame chiefly for their recordings of Ockeghem. No other group have been as consistently compelling in this repertory. Unlike the more conventional choirs, the Clerks' Group pay a lot of attention to the local flavor of polyphonic music. When it comes to performing Ockeghem, whose stylistic writing includes many local conventions, the ability to render local details accurately makes the difference between revelatory and mediocre. This disc is a special delight because of the beauty and relative accessibility of Missa De Plus en Plus, which forms the bulk of this recording. De Plus en Plus was one of Ockeghem's earlier masses. It alternates two- and four-part sections, achieving an almost hypnotic tide-like effect. The original De Plus en Plus tune is included for comparison (the tenor line from the original tune became the cantus firmus for the Mass). Of the fillers, Matthaeus Pipelare's Salve Regina is a gem. The final motet, Gaude Maria, is probably not by Ockeghem, but it is worthy to appear alongside the known Ockeghem's works. The group's singing is well-nigh flawless throughout. -- gggimpy@yahoo.com"

Beautiful sacred music, brilliantly performed

Eddie Konczal | 12/26/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Anyone intrigued by sacred vocal music of the early Renaissance - particularly the works of Guillaume Dufay (c. 1397-1474) and Josquin Desprez (c. 1450-1521) - would do well to explore this CD. Though not as well-known today as Dufay and Josquin, Johannes Ockeghem (c. 1410-1497) represented an essential stylistic link between those two composers. He extended imitative phrases beyond the short phrases employed by Dufay, but was almost too clever in doing so: Ockeghem integrated canons so well into his polyphony that they escaped listeners' ears. Josquin's works brought imitation to the fore, thereby capturing most of the credit for the technique known as "pervasive imitation." Josquin himself acknowledged Ockeghem's importance, commemorating his predecessor in the lament "La déploration de Jehan Ockegham."



The Clerks' Group endeavors to restore Ockeghem's reputation through their series of Ockeghem discs. This CD presents not only Ockeghem's "Missa de plus en plus," but also five motets by Ockeghem and other composers of the period. Works by Matthaeus Pipelare and Jacques Barbireau are performed, as well as "Plus en plus," the motet by Gilles Binchois (a contemporary of Dufay) on which Ockeghem based his Mass.



Dufay pioneered the technique of basing the Mass Ordinary on a pre-existing tenor (or "cantus firmus") from a secular source (as opposed to a Church-approved plainsong chant) with his "Missa se la face ay pale." The "cantus firmus" Mass dominated mid-15th century sacred music; and thus strongly influenced Ockeghem's works. Ockeghem also masters Dufay's technique of alternating different pairs of voices with full 4-part polyphony, to achieve contrasting textures. Ockeghem's music comes across as a gentler, smoother interpretation of Dufay's style, with the downward expansion of the lowest (bassus) voice representing Ockeghem's most readily apparent innovation.



The Clerks' Group performances excel, as do the production values. This is beautiful sacred music, brilliantly performed. I don't find "Missa de plus en plus" quite as impressive as Ockeghem's tour de force, "Missa Prolationum," but it's a remarkable achievement nonetheless.



The liner notes lament that modern critics "worship and canonise (Josquin) only by virtue of (their) total neglect of (Ockeghem)." If the rest of the Clerks' Group's Ockeghem series is as impressive as "Missa de plus en plus; 5 Motets," they will have gone a long way to right this perceived wrong."

This is Your Chance...

Giordano Bruno | Wherever I am, I am. | 03/02/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"... to compare performances of the same glorious masterpiece of polyphony by the three leading vocal consorts who are marketing such recordings!



The genius and influence of the composer/statesman/ man of wealth, Johannes Ockeghem (1425-1460) is finally achieving due appreciation from enthusiasts for Renaissance polyphony. Here's prime evidence: three recordings of his Missa 'de plus en plus', by the three leading vocal consorts of England, The Tallis Scholars, The Clerks' Group, and The Orlando Consort. All three performances are very fine and worthy of the music. What I'd love to see is a comparison by listeners, expressed in the comments on this review, of any two or three of the CDs. Believe me, the mass itself is a masterwork that will never grow tiresome, in which you will hear something fresh in each performance. It's not at all extravagant to have three CDs of such a composition, but you'll also find that each of the three CDs includes other works by Ockeghem and his contemporaries that will give you three times your money's worth in listening pleasure.



The Missa 'de plus en plus' is constructed almost mathematically on the melody of the middle voice of a secular chanson by Gilles de Binchois. That melody is stated in long not values in the 'tenor' of each movement of the mass. Ockeghem's particular genius as a composer - which was a part-time job for him, though he was renowned as a deep bass singer - was his gift for beautiful flowing melody combined with his mastery of the most intricate counterpoint and modal harmony. Others, like Mouton, were gifted with melody, or, like Agricola, adept at rhythmic and structural complexity, but Ockeghem was both. In this mass, Ockeghem chose to alternate extended, dense passages of full four-part polyphony that sounds almost improvisatory, with briefer but florid and exhilarating duet passages.



The recorded performances by The Tallis Scholars and by The Clerks' Group use roughly the same vocal forces - eight singers, two on a part but sometimes only one on a part, with women singing the 'superius' line. The Orlando Consort uses only four voices, one on a part throughout, with male alto Robert Harre-Jones singing the superius. I do have a hierarchy of preference, but I intend not to emphasize it until I hear the reactions of others.



This CD from The Clerks' Group includes what I consider the best recording ever of the chanson "De plus en plus" by Gilles Binchois, on which Ockeghem's mass is thematically based. Hearing this direct and lively performance of the chanson by voices only, I've pressed to wonder why so many ensembles feel the need to be gimmicky with this repertoire, to add instruments doubling, to isolate the 'superius' voice by singing the tenor and countertenor parts without words, etc. etc. Don't they trust the music?



The motets 'Salve Regina' by Mattheus Pipelare and 'Osculetur me' by Jacobus Barbireau are impressive musical structures, exhibiting all the marks of mature Franco-Flemish polyphony yet written at the very beginning of the international ascendancy of that style. Clearly Ockeghem did not walk alone in his compositional development. You'll have to decide by your own lights whether his work was more or less phenomenal for being part of a communal explosion of creativity.



Listen, if you buy all three "de Plus en Plus" CDs, and find you prefer one extremely, you can always sell the other two here on amazon, or donate them to your local library."