Unbeatable
John Weretka | Melbourne, Australia | 10/13/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"It will be nothing short of a miracle if this work is ever treated with such imagination or invention again. These singers present this work in an extremely low, all-male version (contrasting with some other recordings available), interspersing the polyphony with plainchant (sung in that - some would say wayward - manner typical of this group) and rounding out the mass with a Sanctus and Lux aeterna by Divitis; in the Sanctus they are joined by the treble voices of a boy's choir. That Divitis has been shamefully neglected in recordings is confirmed by these stylish readings.
This recording is characterised by a unbeatable intensity of sound and a remarkable feeling for the gesture of this extremely difficult music, comparable in this repertoire to A Sei Voci in Josquin. This is a performance that communicates imemdiately at the most visceral level; the Clerk's Group recording recommended by Matthew Westphal comes nowhere near this performance.
This remains one of my 'desert island' discs."
A fine interpretation of this masterpiece.
Steven Guy | Croydon, South Australia | 09/02/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Ensemble Organum seem to use voice which are not "Classical Music" voices in the normal sense of the word. However, this is a phenomenal interpretation of this work, although it is not quite as "avant-garde' are their recording of the Messe de Notre Dame of Machaut, which is just something else! (I love it, BTW)
The pitch of this work has been transposed down, although it should be said that there is no real absolutes vis-à-vis pitch in music like this. I have the Pro Cantione Antiqua recording of this work and until I heard this recording, no other recording tempted me.
This recording tempted me and won me over.
You should try it, too!
"
Buy it at any price!
Giordano Bruno | Wherever I am, I am. | 04/16/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I included this disc in a "blind Ockeghem tasting" with five early music performers of some fame, all of them strongly biased toward the English voice color of the Tallis Scholars, Clerks' Group, Orlando Consort, etc. (those groups were all included in the test). The Ensemble Organum disc was the unanimous selection as the most potent and profound. (I eliminated the plainchant segments, by the way, which would have given the identity of Marcel Peres away.) I'm pleased to see that my amazon friend Stephen Guy, who is nearly always right, has also reviewed this performance. Read his comments, too."