(Hit the back button on your browser to return to product listing.) The Penguin Guide to Compact Discs, 1997 edition Here is a natural follow-up to the superb Lyrichord CD of organa by Leonin and Perotinus. The very austerity of Ockeghem's part-writing, with its serenely flowing polyphony, adds to the potency of his music for modern ears. It is very beautifully sung by a vocal quartet of high quality whose tonal matching and fine tuning are ideal. The recording, too, is clear yet has a pertectly judged ambience. American Record Guide Lyrichord liveth yet!‹and, in addition to reviving its old recordings, it has initiated new ones like this. Johannes Ockeghem (c.1410-97) was revered in his time as the teacher of a generation of great composers and is remembered today as the founder of the so-called Flemish School of Renaissance music. His own compositions are innovative and magnificently crafted but austere and uncompromising in character, placing high demands of concentration on performers and audience alike. Performers can do no more than give honest and clear presentations that let the music speak for itself, and that is the case here. 12 complete Mass Ordinary settings by Ockeghem survive to us, and there are some not yet recorded. This release fills two gaps with the composer's two Masses for three voices, neither previously available. The California-based vocal ensemble consists of eight singers‹three trebles (at least one of them female), two tenors, and three baritones (solo voices used in the two-part sections)‹who supply strong but lucid delivery of the texture. Recorded sound is warm and atmospheric. A large album folder offers extended notes by director/baritone Moll, complete with thorough discussion of the issues of performance practice. This may be a specialized release that appeals to a limited public, but it is a thoroughly responsible and praiseworthy one. -John W. Barker, Vol. 58, No. 1, January/February 1995 Chorus! Johannes Ockeghem (c. 1410-1497) was one of the greatest composers of the 15th century, universally admired by his contemporaries. He is also one of those rare composers whose works have succeeded in emerging from their cultural milieu to reach a broader audience; indeed, his music was admired by Anton Webern, as well as by numerous music enthusiasts in our time, some of whom care little for the early Renassiance in general. The defining characterists of Ockeghem¹s style is melodic suppleness formed in extremely long lines, yielding a counterpoint of innovative complexity and astounding musicality. This recording presents two of his previously unrecorded masses, both contrapuntally innovative and musically profound. The relatively unknown vocal ensemble, Schola Discantus, obviously spent a great deal of time preparing these works and the results are fully satisfying‹a landmark recording. The mass cycle was the most prestigious compositional genre of the time, and one at which Ockeghem was accorded first place by his contemporaries and subsequent scholars. The bulk of his survivng output isi n this form. Ockeghem was known for his contrapuntal experiments, especially by subsequent theorists, and it is often played up‹for example, in the fully canonic Missa Prolationem. However, this tends to understate the artistic integrity of his music, for it is precisely this combination which makes him so exciting to us. At the time, mass cycles were unified by means of pre-existent melody (cantus firmus) in one of the voice srepeated throughout the cycle. However, in many of his works, Ockeghem makes this unification less formal, by using means of a less explicit nature. This is especially true of these works, where techniques of motto and sonority are used t provide a fully evident unification of the cycles‹in short, a symphonic structure. In the Missa Sine Nomine, the contrapuntal style is taken from that of the contemporaneous chanson (of whic Ockeghem was also one of the greatest masters), yielding a work of beautifully sensuous lines. In the Missa Quinti Toni, the unifying factor is the mode itself and the more intimately connected three-voice texture; in this case, the crystalline clarity of the abstract conception shines through with full force. The seeming anachronism of a return to three-voice texture for sacred music should not prevent one from seeing these works for what they are: two of Ockeghem¹s masterpieces. Schola Discantus performs these masses a capella with parts doubled (and superlus tripled). As always, there are choices to be made, and the choices of sounding pitch and application of ficta (accidentals)‹nicely explained in the liner notes‹are certainly effective. As such, one could not call this performance definitive, but it is well-conceived and musically convincing. The ensemble blend is good, allowing all the lines to be heard clearly and the intonation and articulation are better than average. Most significantly, the rhythmic difficulties are handled convincingly, with a firm adherence to the basic pulse, and a resulting clarity in formal sweep. In short, the performance choices are thoroughly grounded, and the dedication is high. The recorded sound is excellent, exceptionally clear and intimate, with a fine acoustic presence, larger record companies could take a lesson from Lyrichord¹s presentation. All in all, this is one of the finest discs of mid-fifteenth century sacred music to be found anywhere. -by T.M. McComb, Sept. 1994 Dallas Morning News A pair of previously unrecorded Ockeghem works crop up on Lyrichord. These are the composer's only Masses for three volces. An American group, Schola Discantus under director Kevin Moll produces a quite different sound than the English ones that dominate thls field. Two of the trebles are women, not trying to imitate boy sopranos, but coolly ethereal all the same. This would be a formidable contender even in a more crowded contest. -Lawson Taitte, March 5, 1995 EMA BULLETIN, As the CD Turns Some of the hottest news, at least in my opinion, came through Nick Fritsch, whose father, Peter Fritsch, founded Lyrichord Discs nearly forty years ago. A continuing source of traditional "world music" over the years, they have recently intitiated a "Lyrichord Early Music Series", and intend to systematically re-release most of the classic performances from their vast catalog. Their first nine CDs, which should be available by the time you read this, contain volumes 1-7 from their series "Music of the Middle Ages", which was available in the late Œ50s from Experience Anonymes, in the '60s from Musical Heritage, and now, finally, in the '90s from Lyrichord themselves. Many of us grew up with these recordings, which feature Russell Oberlin, Joseph Iadone, Martha Blackman, Seymour Barab, et al., with musical direction by Saville Clark, William Waite, and Denis Stevens. Lyrichord will also be re-releasing their entire collection of classic recordings of polyphony from the 14th through the 16th centuries performed by Alejandro Planchart¹s Cappella Cordina, the first commercial recordings ever done by yours truly. The Morales Missa L¹homme Arme performance is included in their first release. And, perhaps of most interest to those of us living in the present is the fact that Lyrichord intends to release new recordings as well. A new performance of the two Ockeghem masses a 3 by Kevin Moll¹s Schola Discantus rounds out Lyrichord¹s auspicious first release. -By Fred Bashour, 1994, Number 5 |