C’est dire si cette publication est la bienvenue dans une discographie exsangue. Peter Phillips a choisi d’exhumer le « chant du cygne » du maître, écrit dans de curieuses circonstances. En 1540, Gombert aurait maltraité un jeune choriste dont il avait la charge. L’Empereur furieux l’envoya aux galères. Pour se faire pardonner, il composa, peut- être en 1552, huit magnificat dans tous les tons liturgiques. Charles Quint lui accorda son pardon, ému par la beauté des polyphonies et lui permit de finir ses jours à Tournai où il était chanoine.

Gombert a mis toute sa science dans ces chefs-d’oeuvre. Quatre magnificat sont proposés ici suivront les quatre autres….

Reviewer: J.F Weber
Abridged version :

Peter Philipps "... has recorded the set of Magnificats that marked the culmination of Gombert's life. He wrote a setting in each of the eight modes, supplying polyphony in the even-numbered verses, retaining the tone of the chant for the others. To clarify the modes, Phillips frames each Magnificat with a chant antiphon in the same mode. (The other four Magnificats are promised for later this year.) The settings are not all alike. Each setting is varied from an unchanging four-part writing, but the most interesting is the third-mode setting, which begins with three voices, then adds a voice in each successive verse until eight voices are singing. This is one of two unusual settings. Gombért found it possible to make his third and sixth settings suitable for use in the eighth and first modes respectively by simply extending the cadence. In order to include these added phrases of music, Phillips has undercut the modal balance of the group by choosing an eighth-mode antiphon here (and presumably a first-mode antiphon for the upcoming sixth setting).

Gombért may be best known for the motet In ilio tempore that Monteverdi used for his Mass of 1610. Now he is gaining a place for himself on the basis of his own works, notably this group that Phillips calls his most substantial masterpiece.

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