Renaissance at its best
06/17/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"There are more than 30 mass-settings based on the L'homme armé melody in the renaissance period. I do know quite a lot of them and think that the two you'll find in this recording are one of the most impressive ones. Josquin, without doubt, is the "Michelangelo" of renaissance music, and for me, this disc would be one of ten for the "lonely island". The two masses represent two different faces of Josquin (traditional medieval and modern renaissance), but both emit the same incredible medidative aura which only can be experienced because of the congenial interpretation of the Tallis Scholars. Try, for example, the two Agnus Dei, the first one in Super Voces Musicales with its complicated structure of mensuration canons, or the other one of Sext Toni with its exceptional virtuosity and meditation quality which could be a composition of this century (a mixture between Glass and Pärt?). The Tallis Scholars have released exceptional interpretations of renaissance music, but this one, together with their other Josquin recording (Pange Lingua) and Cardoso's and Victoria's Requiem, is my favorite."