Customer Reviews

Heinrich Isaac: Missa Paschalis

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Heinrich Isaac (c.1450 - 1517) was a direct contemporary of Leonardo da Vinci (1452 - 1519) and one of the main composers of the Prima Prattica (a term that comes from Claudio Monteverdi) active just before the Reformation gained momentum. The music of this period became increasingly contrapunctally elaborate to a degree unmatched in the centuries afterward.

Isaac spent much of his time in the service of some of the most significant political figures of his time including Lorenzo di Medici and after the Medicis was driven out of Florence, Isaac took up what was arguably the most important musical position in Europe at the time in the court of Maximilian I. In a famous letter written by an agent of the d'Este, the two composers are compared:

"Isaac is of a better nature than Josquin, and while it is true that Josquin is a better composer, he only composes when he wants to, and not when asked; Isaac will compose when you want him to."

Josquin was a composer already revered in his own time, but then again we all know that Bach too was second choice behind Telemann for the job in Leipzig so we must always take contemporary assessments like this with a grain of salt. For Isaac is a composer capable of writing music of remarkable grandeur, of a sort that quite puts Josquin in the shade. Josquin's music has a dark expressiveness and typical Flemish melancholy, whereas Isaac tends to greater nobility and monumentality. Josquin's music is highly progressive for his time, whereas Isaac tends to be highly conservative. The two composers make for endlessly fascinating comparison.

Isaac's most ambitious project of all was his Choralis Constantinus which he wanted as a complete compendium of liturgical music for every season of the year. He left it partially incomplete but was completed by his pupil Ludwig Senfl. It is a huge work that if recorded complete would take up some 40 CDs and is an encylopaedic achievement akin to the Klavierübungen and cantatas of J.S. Bach.

The works here include excerpts from the Choralis Constantinus in addition to the Missa Paschalis. The mass comes from the Jena Choirbook that originated from the collection of Frederick the Wise (who famously gave shelter to Luther after he had been condemned by the Church).

All of the works here are all expertly sung by Ensemble Officium under the direction of Wilfried Rombach, who must now be regarded as the leading Isaac exponent on record. Under his leadership this choir has won first prize at international choral competitions - and for very good reason. In fact they have clearly grown to become the leading early music choir in Germany today. They are a mixed choir with a sound slightly reminiscent of the early Tallis choir when they still shaped the phrasing of their lines with greater richness than they do today, only their phrasing is even more subtly communicative. Their manner of singing plain chant also has a characterful forthrightness that stands to the blandness found in many recordings of Renaissance polyphony. There are moments like the Santus when the beauty of the singing is simply breathtaking.

I only wish someone would get this choir to record the complete Choralis Constantinus - then I think would really make people realise just how absolutely remarkable a composer Isaac really was. For now this splendid CD will more than suffice but I look forward to even greater things from this remarkably talented group.

The only previous review of this CD provides adequate info about the composer Heinrich Isaac and his place in Renaissance music. The Missa Paschalis is typical of his polyphonic art, with its melodic phrases flung through acoustic space like the filaments spun by Walt Whitman's "Noiseless Patient Spider." Likewise the rhythmic independence of the part-writing is rich with unexpectedned prolations (changes of time signature) and hemiolas (counts of three against two or two against three). In short, it's a concise masterpiece of the Franco-Flemish style.

This is probably the best recorded performance of an Isaac mass available, and it has many strengths. The phrasing is crisp and expressive. The inner voices maintain their independent integrity throughout, so that there is no feeling of bar-lines and baton waving. The choir's tuning is thoroughly professional. The performance unfolds as a whole, an interpretation rather than merely a sign-though. The prolations and hemiolas are handled with ease, and with enough emphasis to make them interesting yet without such overemphasis as to make them awkward.

But there are also some weaknesses, at least to my ear, and they are the standard weaknesses of recordings of choral polyphony. The voices inevitably smudge into anonymity, into generic tenor and generic bass, even with a forceful group of singers like Officium. That effect is multiplied to the third power by the technology of recording, so that one hears a constant buzzing edge of white noise whenever the musical texture becomes full. The separation and transparency of the polyphonic lines suffers most. Let's cut to the quick: recorded performances of choirs never sound like the real thing. One-on-a-part has huge technological superiorities as well as musical advantages.

I've already complimented Ensemble Officium for presenting a total interpretation of the music. A strong statement of interpretation. I could wish, nonetheless, that their interpretation were a little more invigorating. The tempi chosen are consistently more langorous than I would choose. My Isaac would be more triumphant, more like the image of the risen Christ used on the cover of this CD. But that's the interpreter's right; better any interpretation than none at all!

Five stars do not reflect my hesitations expressed above, but after all this is a performance of beauty and emotive power, and one that most lovers of Renaissance music will enjoy greatly.

Having read the excellent reviews by Sator and Giordano Bruno, I'd like to tip the scales toward 5 stars (right now, they stand at 4.5). Both know 100x as much as I do about music, so I won't attempt to outdo or even rival them in erudition, but simply thank them for taking the time to educate us. I like GB's analogy of Isaac to a celestial spider spinning a web of harmony, but what Isaac brings to mind for me is something more like supernal architecture (which in turns brings to mind, oddly, the barn-raising scene from the movie "Witness" and the music that accompanies it--not much like this music except for the memorable evocation). Anyway, where was I? For anyone who likes Renaissance polyphony (music of Josquin Desprez, Palestrina, Byrd, and many more), this will be a treasure. The music is consistently beautiful, moving and uplifting, and Ensemble Officium's performance is stellar. I get what GB is saying, sort of, about multiple voices on a part being inferior, but I personally think it is done here about as well as possible. Disclaimer for audiophiles: I have had mild tinnitus for a long time, and I listen to MP3s on my computer (and get totally wafted away nonetheless, but that's another story). Highly recommended, along with Isaac's Missa Apostolis, which is available in another excellent performance, by the Tallis Scholars.