Customer Reviews

Musical Book of Hours

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Each new Pomerium CD becomes an essential part of my library. Most of the works were new to my ear (includes a setting by Josquin of the opening of St. John's Gospel). Alexander Blachley -- keep the CD's coming!

Until I read the richly illustrated booklet that accompanies this cd, I thought I knew, from what I had read here and there in history textbooks, what a medieval "book of hours" is: the equivalent of our modern-day comic strips, a book to kill dreary hours when tv did not yet exist.

Little did I suspect that the "hours" in question are the hallowed times during the day (seven in all) when monks get together in the church to sing psalms and pray God in harmony with the progression of the sun. What the book of hours did was to bring the daily liturgy of the convent into the life of the laity, adding a rich ornamentation and all kinds of details related to the calendar.

In these devotional exercises prayers to and meditions on the Blessed Virgin were prominent.

The content of a typical medieval book of hours, which, as you can see, has nothing to do with casual reading, serves as the structure of this album of sublime late medieval sacred chants: just as a book of hours begins with a depiction of the seasons, a joyous song evoking the calendar by Dufay opens the performance. It is followed by a long, stately Gospel lesson (the first chapter of the Gospel of John:"In the beginning was the word...") by Josquin Desprez.

Thereafter, as so many beads on a musical string, a succession of hymns to the Virgin Mary( which make up more than a third of the recording). Then the choristers pay homage to the Holy Cross and the Holy Spirit, supplicate the saints, before singing a vibrant piece from the Office of the Dead "De Profundis Clamavi", also by Desprez, which ends the performance.

This cd is exceptionally beautiful on account of several factors:

-perfect balance between male and female voices: too many Renaissance music recordings suffer from a kind of yin/yang imbalance in which the sopranos "outvoice" their male counterparts, giving us a music that is often too high and ear-fraying.

-ideal track length: again many acclaimed recordings are characterized by an (over)abundance of very short tracks, mostly two or three minutes songs or motets. In this album the average track length is much higher, with two 9 minutes and one 12 minutes pieces.This means that you have enough time to get completely immersed in the mood of each chant.

-greater calm and intimacy: many Renaissance albums tire the listener through an excess of what I call "triumphant" chants: music with great vocal surges and swells during which all choristers sing at the top of their voices (Spem in alium by Tallis or the Requiem Mass by Victoria are typical examples). This performance bathes in a more quiet and intimate atmosphere, as befits a private liturgy in honor of tender Mary. Besides, a kind of "grounding" effect that is very soothing is obtained through the Gregorian chant pieces sung only by male voices (there are two of them on this album).

What else could I say than to recommend you this magnificent cd? It is really a pity that all other recordings by this chorale, the New-York based Pomerium("orchard" in Latin), are out of stock. Anyway, the Book of Hours is such a splendor that we can still consider ourselves blessed a thousand times.

One of my favorite CDs of medieval/renaissance choral music. Light some candles and/or incense, turn off the lights and drift heavenward. The Salve Regina is the best!

Like most American early music ensembles, Pomerium sometimes has to turn to showmanship to stay in business. The attempt to link this set of motets either to the daily schedule of liturgical chants called the Hours, or to the illustrated devotional prayer books called Books of Hours is totally misleading. Oh well, may they thrive from it! Just don't bother to read the tri-lingual essay in the program notes.

Enough of that. The selection of motets on this CD is about as fine as one could hope for, including works by Dufay, Josquin, Ockeghem, Busnois, and Dunstaple, plus several compositions not available anywhere else, by little-known composers such as Richard Hygons and Hilaire Penet. [One more caution: the amazon samples credit every track to Busnoys, but only one piece is his.] Motets generally used Biblical verses or devotional poetry for their texts; among the most popular choices were the Latin poems of Thomas Aquinas. But motets were not intended specifically for liturgical purposes, and were not constrained by the needs of liturgy. For that reason, they often present the most original and experimental musical thoughts of their composers. Often they are the best "listening" of the repertoire.

Pomerium is a large mixed choir, with women singing both alto and soprano parts. This recording, like most of Pomerium's, uses a very live, reverberant acoustic, suggestive of a vast Gothic cathedral. Ordinarily I'm not fond of such performances, especially on recordings, because they mask and muddy the rhythmic and harmonic inventiveness of Renaissance polyphony. However, this time Pomerium sings to their strength, which is a robust, evocative choral tone - something many people find spiritually moving. Conductor Alexander Blachly chooses tempi to maximize both the variety and the emotive impact of these twelve motets, and keeps his choristers in excellent ensemble without over-stressing the bar-line effect of a baton. All in all, this is not an impressively authentic performance, but it's lovely to hear.

This album is fantastic! I listen to it when I am writing, reading, or just want to relax. I am not of the Christian faith but I appreciate beautiful music. The songs are ethereal and filled with emotion. The voices transport you to another time, another place. I highly recommend this album!!