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Fanfare Magazine:  41:6 (07-08/2018) 
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Hyperion
CDA68210



Code-barres / Barcode : 034571282107

The Mass by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525–1594) has its second recording, one of three works for eight voices sung on this disc. Palestrina published a motet for an eight-voice choir in 1572 (the text is not the familiar Vespers psalm), then about 1577 composed a Mass on the cantus firmus, this time written for two four-voice choirs. The Magnificat, copied into a choirbook in the late 1580s, is the other work for eight voices. The remaining five works are performed here instrumentally: Introduxit me rex (taken from the much-recorded set of Canticum canticorum), Benedicta sit, Loquebantur, and one of the ricercari are played by cornett and organ; the other ricercar is played on organ alone.
 

This is the only eight-voice Mass that Palestrina published in his lifetime. Three others appeared in 1601 (also based on his own motets), but the much-admired Missa Hodie Christus natus est is the only one of the last three on records, most recently from Harry Christophers (Fanfare 36:4). Similarly, it may be noted, Lassus published three eight-voice Masses around 1580, but only Missa Bell’ Amfitrit’altera has enjoyed a long list of recordings. The Magnificat is uniquely through-composed (not alternating with chant verses), the most familiar by far of his settings of this canticle, previously recorded by Wilfried Rombach (32:2), Schola Adventus on Four Winds, Edward Higginbottom on Collins and Brilliant, Peter Phillips (18:3), Elmer Iseler (18:2), James O’Donnell (15:4), and David Willcocks on Argo (reissued on CD). Of the 35 settings of this canticle in every mode, other settings in mode 1 for four, five, and six voices have also been recorded. A cursory search turned up single recordings of settings in all the modes.
 

This is no ordinary university schola cantorum, for recall that Paul Hindemith directed the Collegium Musicum at Yale in the early 1950s and recorded for Overtone Records. Alejandro Planchart directed the Capella Cordina in a series of records on Lyrichord in the 1960s. The present choir dates from 2003, and David Hill has been at Yale since 2013. The choral works, recorded early in his second year, are a remarkable achievement for attaining such fine tonal qualities. The singers match the enunciation, tone, balance, and responsiveness that we hear in professional choirs. The instrumental works were recorded in Bologna over a year later. Two of them, Introduxit me rex and Benedicta sit sancta Trinitas, were arranged by the Venetian Giovanni Bassano, while the third was arranged by Dickey himself.
 

The Mass was first recorded, also in America, by Schola Adventus under Paul M. Ellison in 2005 for Four Winds. The San Francisco vocal group consisted of solo mixed voices, in contrast to the large ensemble from Yale. The CD was titled Palestrina for Eight Voices and included the same motet and Magnificat heard on this disc, as well as five other motets. It was a fine outing for a Palestrina premiere, but it was not widely distributed (and not received for review); it is still available, but David Hill is an easy recommendation for today’s collector. Hill has accomplished a great deal at Westminster Cathedral (most notably), Winchester Cathedral, and St. John’s College, Cambridge, so this fine disc should be no surprise. We still have quite a few Palestrina Masses waiting to be recorded, but progress has been slow. This fine disc will fill one slot. Recommended.

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