Customer Reviews

Josquin Desprez: Motets & Chansons

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is, without doubt, one of the best Hilliard recordings (my other nominations for the best Hilliard recordings are: Dunstable Motets, Virgin Veritas 5 61342 2, and Ockeghem Missa Prolationum, Virgin Veritas 5 61484 2). Buy these precious Virgin Veritas reissues fast, because they go out of print without warning. Made almost 20 years ago, this Josquin recording reflects what was, in my view, the golden age of the Hilliard. The cast was still featuring the amazing high tenor Paul Elliott whose voice is such a delight, especially in the florid line in Veni Sancte Spiritu. David James, joined by the group's frequent guest Ashley Stafford, is in top form. Even the harshest detractors would not claim that James sounds shrill or abrasive in this recording. Back when this recording was made, the one-voice-per-part approach was still a novelty. The fact that the Hilliard sang this repertory with only 8 singers (in some pieces only 4) elicited a few surprised comments when the recording first came out. Now, of course, such small forces are perfectly acceptable, if not expected, in polyphonic works. We owe this new attitude, as well as the greater attention to medieval repertory in general, to groundbreaking groups such as the Hilliard. This recording presents four fairly large motets, the most famous of which is Ave Maria. The rest are secular pieces. The Hilliards vocalize all parts even though instrumental continuo was probably acceptable in Josquin's times (e.g., David Munrow recorded some of these songs with recorders, viols and lutes). Two of these secular pieces deserve a special mention. One is Milles Regretz, one of the most popular melodies of the middle ages, serving as a plainchant backbone in numerous masses. The other is Nymphes de Bois, the heart-rending lament on the death of Ockeghem. The text by poet Molinet lists among the mourners several of Ockeghem's pupils and admirers, including Josquin himself. The moment in which the voices call out the names of the mourners in descending echoing steps is indescribably beautiful. The music incorporates as tribute two lines of Ockeghem's Requiem. The effect is stunning. Josquin could not have hoped for a better performance.

Josquin predated some of the other Renaissance masters (Palestrina, Victoria, Tallis, etc.) by 100 years or more. As a result, his compositional range embraces both the medieval and Renaissance idioms. His pieces represent a vast range of styles. The pieces recorded here are no exception. Josquin's Ave Maria is, at least in my opinion, a quintessential piece of Renaissance music and a perfect Marian motet. All sorts of technical skill is evident - it is a masterpiece of imitative polyphony. But to speak about it in those terms does it injustice, for it is one of the most serenely beautiful pieces of music ever composed. Josquin gives the text a perfect reading - matching its lyricism with beautiful musical lines and stunning harmonies. This piece alone is worth the price of the disc. The other motets are wonderful as well. De profundis clamavi, sung in a low register, begins with descending motives and a dark minor tonality which denote the despair conveyed by the text. Again, the other pieces are similiary fine, but I don't have the space to talk about them all individually. I'm not nearly as familiar with Josquin's secular music, but the madrigals on this recording are of a similiar quality. Emotion ranges from heartbreak to exuberance and it is all effectively conveyed. If you read my other reviews on Amazon.com, you'll know that the Hilliard Ensemble is one of my favorite groups, and this recording shows why. As I always say, they are technically amazing - tone, balance, dynamics, and the rest are superb. Their interpretive choices are always sound. They manage to convey the sheer wonder of Ave Maria, the depth of emotion in De profundis clamavi, and the humor of El grillo all in the same sweep. Their choice of tempo is excellent - slow and relaxed in Ave Maria, quicker in the motets (Ave Maria is as slow as I've heard it, but it's perfect - they give the music a chance to blossom and flow). This recording really is a must - unfortunately Vergin Veritas is one of the most unreliable early music labels. They put wonderful music to disc that can't be found anywhere else, but it is hardly ever available; I can't even count the number of recordings that I would kill to get but which are out of stock by the label. All that to say this: buy this recording while you can. You can't go wrong...

I can't disagree with any of the other critics who have praised the music on this disc. Josquin is a superb composer who wrote deeply moving music with a wide range of emotional expression. The Hilliard Ensemble do sing beautifully--intonation is impeccable throughout, which is very difficult to do with such vibrato-less pure tone. And this is certainly an historically informed performance reflective of the best academic thought (to my knowledge) in the 80's, with a single male singer on each part. But it strikes me as a rather passionless performance, I'm sorry to say, as though the technical perfection came at the cost of emotional expression. I don't find that the dynamics and the tempo are excellent, as one of the other writers said--in fact I find them quite inappropriately reserved on many of the works. Absalom, Fili Mi is in my opinion one of the most heart-rending pieces of music ever written; yet here it scarcely engages me at all. Not that an overblown Romantic interpretation is appropriate, but I find it impossible to believe that the poetry Josquin set, which is so full of life in all its manifestations--love, lust, grief, the divine--would not be performed in a way which brought this out. These pieces are gorgeous, and there are better performances out there. In addition, the CD seems a bit scanty in terms of quantity. I'd like to recommend the Ensemble Janequin's CD Josquin Desprez: Adieu mes Amours, etc, which is less technically perfect (in particular, the Hilliard Ensemble's intonation is more consistently correct) but much more engaging.

This unexpensive and rather short cd offers a selection of Desprez's works, both sacred and profane in a 50/50 ratio.

While some people may find the contrast between the (extremely)slow, stately religious pieces and the quick, playful songs in French and Italian stimulating, I found it slightly disturbing. I definitely would have preferred a selection of pieces with a greater unity of mood and style.

While the performance is certainly first-rate, the recording seems to me to be below average: when you turn up the volume, an annoying hum is heard in the background. Is this problem due to the inferior quality of my hi-fi? It might be, but the fact is that this maddening defect has appeared only on very few of my cds (it is also very evident on recordings of the King's College Choir).

I recommend in addition to this cd Ockeghem's Mass "De plus en plus" by the Orlando Consort. Ockeghem's Great Lament for the death of Jean Binchois is in my opinion much more beautiful and moving than Desprez's own lament for Ockeghem on this cd.

I also warmly recommend "Desprez: Motets", also by the Orlando Consort, an imported October 2000 Deutsche Grammophon CD, for me one of the best, if not the best Renaissance sacred music recording. IMHO, The Orlando Consort sings and interprets Desprez infinitely better than the Hilliard Ensemble and even beats the Tallis Scholars.

The total duration of this recording is 50 minutes.

This is a great disc, with the most famous all-male ensemble in one of (I think)the first leading recordings. there is a ransparency of textures that is not so esay to find elsewere: that happens when you join singers to carry the parts individually (except in Ave Maria and De profundis, where there are 2 voices to a part). Yet you can see they can achieve a choral sound when necessary. And if you want more support to buy this cd, read the Grammophone review (www.gramophone.co.uk then go to record reviews). But... I see in a few moments a little problem in articulation, (a thing that is more obvious considering such small ensemble)and a slightly larger vibrato in Paul Hillier (see that he does not sing in later recordings); this is not an important disadvantage,though. However,I give it 4 stars because the company Virgin does not tell you that 3 of the four motets are NOT composed by Josquin, and if the cd is very short indeed, look what happens when you pay for only 30 minutes of josquin music.

So much praise has been lavished on the Hilliard Ensemble over the years that it is scarcely necessary for me to repeat what others have said so well. Assuming that Paul Hillier’s performance criteria are the best and the music of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance should be performed with one or two voices to a part, and that these voices should be all male so that descant parts are sung by countertenors, then I should think that it would be very difficult indeed to better the Hilliards’ performance. This Josquin CD is a case in point: Containing four sacred motets in Latin, an Italian motet that could be sacred or secular, a number of popular Italian and French pieces and, last but certainly not least, Josquin’s famous lamentation upon the death of Ockeghem, this disc gives not only a brilliant survey of Josquin as a composer but also shows off the abilities of the Hilliards to the best advantage. The sacred pieces are done with a devotion and seriousness which defies criticism and ascends in “Veni Sancte Spiritus” to the sublime, which is then followed by some anything-but-sublime secular pieces with erotic double-entendres, sung with a joyful exuberance that catches the very spirit of these songs.

The only areas where criticism could be allowed are, firstly, the above assumption regarding the voices. Aside from any historical considerations, I find personally that countertenors David James and Ashley Stafford, wonderful singers that they may be, cannot really replace the castrati who would probably have originally been used to sing these pieces, and that probably female voices would sound, at least for modern ears, a lot better. David James’ timbre is, for my ears, a trifle “penetrating” and tends to dominate the ensemble sound, although when listening intensely to this recording I found myself enjoying Paul Hillier’s and Michael George’s bass voices much more. (The tenors Paul Elliott, Leigh Nixon and Rogers Covey-Crump are, of course, also brilliant.) And secondly, this 1983 digital recording is not free from background noise: there is a certain amount of “hissing” to be heard, and also a number of times one hears what sounds like heavy footsteps on the stone floor of London’s Temple Church where the recording was made; this could and probably should have been edited out.

Josquin was one of the great composers of all time. This beautiful disk can get you a nice taste of the music. The voices blend so well and the horizontal layers are all cared for so the vertical structures are revealed, but not dominant. That is the way polyphonic music should work for music in the sacred style. In other places like tracks 4 & 6 there is a nice emphasis on the vertical structures without losing the linear voice leading.

One really can't call the vertical structures CHORDS at this time, because such a concept did not exist.

Track 13 on the death of Ockeghem is simply exquisite!

This disk is a wonderful addition to your Josquin collection and if it is your first disk - Don't STOP here! Get his masses and other works. Josquin is absolutely stunning.

This Cd was one I found at a Thrift shop and it is wonderful. the tonality and tuning of the singers is amazing, it's so easy to listen to because there are no little waves you usually get from less professional singers. Along with those few things the music is beautiful. money well spent and a very good find at that. I would highly recommend this to any vocal major or even instrumentalists, these piece can easily be played in chamber settings.

Very good.

This is great music performed with love, understanding, and (when called for) humor (check out El Grillo!). The Hilliard Ensemble comes as close to perfection as we have any right to expect from mere mortals: the singing is unfailingly beautiful and musicianly, and this well-varied collection of short works by Josquin will inspire you to investigate the large-scale works (i.e., the Masses). A true classic!

This is a wonderful performance of music by Josquin.
This is one of my favorite recordings of music by
Josquin, the Hillard Ensenble does a wonderful job.
Peak sound quality, what else could you ask for.