Customer Reviews

Victoria: Masses

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

 

 

This review has something of the gratuitously autobiographical about it.

The short of it is, on this disc you will find lovely repertory, and will find it sung both capably and sweetly by the Oxford Camerata.

It was in tenth grade, I think, that I first sang O magnum mysterium. Since seventh grade, I had been playing the clarinet in our school band; and the bits I had heard of the occasional school chorus concert did not give me the impression, either that the human voice is a musical instrument, or that the stuff written for lots of voices together was anything I should ever take any interest in. And yet, somehow, I allowed myself one afternoon to be dragged into the music room when there was a chorus rehearsal, and I found myself trying to sing.

One of the first things the director had us read, was this Victoria motet; and I was enthralled from the start.

Now, I will not hide from you that there is plenty of music which, back in school, I thought the most enduringly great literature imaginable, but of which now, after years of education and experience, I cannot in good conscience entertain anywhere near so exalted an opinion.

But the Victoria is one of a few pieces I met and loved back in school, which has worn marvelously well over the years.

The parody Mass based on the motet, is absolutely new to me (the term "parody" here possesses nothing of the, but means that the musical material for much of the Mass's polyphony comes from an outside source); and for anyone who is familiar with the motet, the aural hunt for the gestures and motifs which come from the motet is a most pleasant puzzle. The beginnings of both the Kyrie and the Sancus make use of the descending fifth of the motet's opening, though it is a little "masked" among other voices. The music both of this Mass, and the Missa O quam gloriosum, are a wonderful mixture of the serenely fluid vocal polyphony typical of (say) Palestrina, and episodes of dance-like rhythm which are more like Spanish madrigals.

Muy buena interpretacion de la misa O quam Gloriosum. El Ave Maria a 4 voces esta a un tempo un poco rapido a mi gusto, pero igualmente delicioso. Una muy buena compra.

I purchased this to use in training for a choir that I am in, and fell in love with it for it's own merits. The cantors are amazing, and the balance and production flawless. Enjoy.

This is an excellent CD with the best Kyrie I have ever heard (track 2, the Kryrie for the Missa O magnum mysterium). Clear voices, good direction, beautiful music.

I love Victoria and his masses. Having done the Gloria, Sanctus, Kyrie, and Agnus Dei in my college choir from his parody mass ("Missa O Magnum Mysterium"), I found that, while the recording had perfect accuracy of notes and cut-offs, the overall shaping of vowels was somewhat that of a boychoir, which I'm guessing the director wanted. However, certain performance practices relevant to Victoria's time weren't employed, and this was a bit of a disappointment. That is, the messa di voce of notes over two beats, and half-notes in the middle of measures, or a quarter-note tied to another quater-note over a barline wasn't present, nor was the tapering of the quarter-and-a-half note before the eighth-note to show the bounce, nor the crescendo in rising lines and decrescendo in falling ones, nor the lilt in a part's half-step movement down, then up. These are all esoteric things to be noticed, but that's why I give it three stars instead of five. Still, it's a great recording for lovers of Victoria and his masses, but there's a lot of room for improvement.