A wonderful reissue
Sid Nuncius | London England | 04/18/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is another absolutely superlative double CD in the series of re-issued classic Tallis Scholars recordings. It is a sublimely beautiful collection of five mass settings by five different composers, and the title Flemish Masters is no exaggeration. It is a beautiful and varied selection of works roughly spanning the century from 1475 to 1575 and shows how composing styles varied and developed in that period. The works are:
Heinrich Isaac - Missa de Apostolis; a beautifully sonorous six-voice setting from around 1500 with alternate chant and polyphonic writing,
Johannes Ockeghem - Missa Au travail suis; the earliest of the settings with a spare and lovely four-voice sound,
Orlandus Lassus - Missa Osculetur me; a fabulously sonorous setting for double choir from around 1570,
Cipriano de Rore - Missa Praeter rerum seriem; a wonderful mass based on Josquin's magnificent motet Praeter rerum seriem, and
Antoine Brumel - Missa Et ecce terrae motus; this twelve-voice setting is known as The Earthquake Mass because it uses as a basis the Easter plainsong Et ecce terrae motus whose text describes the earthquake after Christ's death, but it could equally apply to the effect of the sheer power and sonority of the setting. It is stunning music (a real Wall Of Sound from the early 16th Century) and an absolute masterpiece.
The performances from the Tallis Scholars are uniformly outstanding. These are some of the recordings which have established them over the last 30 years as one of the world's very finest ensembles (some would say the finest) in this repertoire. They are technically peerless, they have a really beautiful fluency and distinctness of line while blending and interacting flawlessly, and have a wonderful empathy with the music and its relationship to the text.
I have owned the original five discs from which these masses are taken for years (since they came out in many cases) and they have been real favourites of mine ever since. At this price for two magnificent discs you can't go wrong and I recommend this set in the warmest possible terms.
"
Track Listings (14) - Disc #1