Missa Ultimi Miei Sospiri [Import]

De Monte (Artist), Cinquecento (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 13, 2008)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Hyperion UK
• ASIN: B0016J9P5A
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #236,912 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Miserere mei

2. Missa Ultimi miei sospiri: Kyrie

3. Missa Ultimi miei sospiri: Gloria

4. Missa Ultimi miei sospiri: Credo

5. Missa Ultimi miei sospiri: Sanctus

6. Missa Ultimi miei sospiri: Agnus Dei

7. Magnificat sexti toni for 4 voices

8. Ad te levavi for 5 Voices

9. Fratres, ego enim accepi

10. Asperges me, Domine for 5 Voices

11. Gaudent in caelis animae Sanctorum

12. Ne timeas, Maria for 5 Voices

13. Ultimi miei sospiri - Phillippe Verdelot

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Who is This De Monte Guy Anyway?, December 8, 2010

By 

Giordano Bruno (Wherever I am, I am.) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: Missa Ultimi Miei Sospiri (Audio CD)

I'm kidding, of course. Philippe de Monte (1521-1603) was one of the best known, most succesful, and most prolific composers of his era, a Frenchman who worked in Naples, joined the chapel of Philip II in Spain, traveled to England where he socialized with William Byrd, and then spent thirty-five years as Kapellmeister at the Austrian Habsburg Court, under both Maximilian II and Rudolf II. He was in effect the musical Big Dog of Europe in his lifetime, evidenced by the vast amount of his music that has survived: over 1000 madrigals in thirty-four published editions, 144 spiritual madrigals, 250 motets, thirty-eight masses .... yet this CD is one of only two devoted to his work that I regard as well sung! Listening to this performance, that neglect seems inconceivable. Why isn't Philippe de Monte as widely known and oft-recorded as Josquin or Palestrina?

That's what a really superb performance can do for a long-dead composer, or so I hope: skyrocket his work to prominence. I suspect that this sextet of young male singers, Cinquecento, could chant the Vienna phone book or the autobiography of Sarah Palin and make it beautiful. But de Monte deserves such artistry; the six-part Missa Ultimi miei sospiri, based on the secular madrigal of the same title by Philppe Verdelot, is a major masterwork of the transition from Franco-Flemish domination to the post-Tridentine formulae of Palestrina, more akin in rhythm excitement to the former yet approaching the chromatic intensity of the latter. The seven de Monte motets that share this CD are equally powerful, artful polyphony for four to six voices, all sung one on a part.

I can think of several venerable Early Music vocal ensembles, chiefly British, that should be shaking in their professional boots after hearing this performance by Cinquecento, a consort formed in 2004, with five fantastically fine CDs already on the market, including masses by Adrian Willaert, Jakob Regnart, and Jacobus Vaet. Who's likely to buy another stuffy distorted big choir CD -- poorly balanced, mixed voices, probably transposed up, baton conducted -- when there are recordings of this quality, more robust in timbre, freer in polyphonic phrasing, better in tuning, more expressive and yet more historically authentic to boot, by Cinquecento, Stimmwerck, Blue Heron, and other 'emerging' ensembles? Among those three, I'd have a hard time selecting the most skillful, but fortunately they are all focusing on different repertoires, Blue Heron on Dufay and other Burgundians, Stimmwerck on German composers of the 15th C, and Cinquecento on the Habsburg court composers of the 16th C. Take warning, Tallis Scholars! These young men can sing you under the table.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended, February 25, 2009

By 

John Weretka (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Missa Ultimi Miei Sospiri (Audio CD)

This is the newest recording of a still relatively new group - not that you'd know it. The performance by Cinquecento is itself enough to recommend this recording: a superbly blended sound in which the creaminess of the falsettists is balanced perfectly in the all-male ensemble. Also superbly blended is the ensemble musicianship. This is an ensemble that points all the time in one direction only, straight towards the music. And what magnificent music this is. The disc comprises De Monte's Missa Ultimi miei sospiri and eight slighter motets (including Ultimi miei sospiri by Verdelot, on which the mass is based). The centrepiece is clearly the mass, which is richly sung and darkly coloured. The motets, from this prolific motet writer, are definitely slighter but perfectly etched in conception and performance. I look forward to hearing more both of composer and ensemble.
The track listing given by Amazon is incorrect and should be:
1. Philippe De Monte - Miserere mei Deus
2. Philippe De Monte - Missa Ultima miei sospiri: Kyrie
3. Philippe De Monte - Missa Ultima miei sospiri: Gloria
4. Philippe De Monte - Missa Ultima miei sospiri: Credo
5. Philippe De Monte - Missa Ultima miei sospiri: Sanctus and Benedictus
6. Philippe De Monte - Missa Ultima miei sospiri: Agnus Dei
7. Philippe De Monte - Magnificat sexti toni
8. Philippe De Monte - Ad te levavi
9. Philippe De Monte - Fratres, ego enim accepi
10. Philippe De Monte - Asperges me, Domine
11. Philippe De Monte - Gaudent in cælis animæ sanctorum
12. Philippe De Monte - Ne timeas, Maria
13. Philippe Verdelot - Ultimi miei sospiri

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very fine disc, July 11, 2011

By 

Sid Nuncius - See all my reviews

This review is from: Missa Ultimi Miei Sospiri (Audio CD)

Considering his vast output of music, Philippe de Monte doesn't feature in the catalogue all that much, which is a shame as this disc shows that he was a composer of real stature who produced some very fine works. I had previously known de Monte largely through his famously sending his lovely motet Super flumina Babylonis to Byrd, lamenting the oppression of Catholics in England (and Byrd responding with a fabulous setting of Quomodo cantabimus?) This disc comprises a very fine mass setting, a Magnificat and several motets and is a very welcome addition to my collection.

Cinquecento sing the music superbly. The beautiful sound which was such a feature of their disc of Regnart's music Regnart: Missa Super Oeniades Nymphae is here too. They are an all-male sextet with top lines sung by countertenors, so the pitch is relatively low and this and the resonant acoustic gives a fabulous, warm, enveloping sound which loses none of the detail and expressiveness of either the music itself or the fine performance. Intonation is impeccable and the singing is wonderfully clean and sympathetic to the text without disturbing the overall beauty of the sound. The combination of top-quality performance with excellent recorded sound makes this a favourite disc of mine and I recommend it very warmly indeed.