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American Record Guide: (09-10/2020) 
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It is perhaps a bit misleading to title this recording "Salve, Salve, Salve: Josquin's Spanish Legacy" when his only selection is a 'Salve Regina'. Rather than a collection of Josquin's music found in the Iberian peninsula, it tells a sonic story of how his music was heard, imitated, and integrated into the compositions of Spanish composers in the 16th Century. The title is actually a reference to Josquin's 'Salve Regina', which incorporates an ostinato in the "Quinta Vox" derived from the first four notes of the most common chant for this Marian antiphon (also included on the recording), so that you hear from this voice only "Salve, Salve, Salve...".

For this release, Owen Rees begins with Cristobal de Morales's topical motet, Jubilate Deo Omnis Terra, written for the meeting on 14 July 1538 between Emperor Charles V (and King of Spain) and King Francis I of France, where Pope Paul III managed a truce between these two Catholic kingdoms. The text refers to all three of these leaders.—Victoria's 6 voice parody Gaudeamus Mass (augmented to 7 voices for the final 'Agnus Dei') incorporates not only this same "Gaudeamus" ostinato motive but also other musical references to Morales's motet. The other selections include Victoria's setting of 'Salve Regina', which uses the same "Salve" four note ostinato motive as Josquin but adds an additional ostinato on "Mater misericordiae", and Francisco Guerrero's six voice motet, 'Surge propera, amica mea', which uses an ostinato motive on "Veni, sponsa Christi'. Guerrero's five voice 'Ave virgo sanctissima' begins with a close canon between the two treble voices, but at the phrase "Salve semper gloriosa" (Hail, ever glorious) he weaves the four note "Salve" motive from Josquin's setting into all five voices in a rising sequence to the top of their ranges.

This recording is not an academic exercise. The ten core singers of Contrpunctus produce a full and blended sound and Rees leads them in interpretations that are sensitive to the subtle rhythmic inflections of these densely polyphonic works. Compared to other excellent recordings of the Gaudeamus Mass, it does not have Cardinall's Musick's fuller mixed chorus sound (May/June 2000) or the adult male chorus sound of the Westminster Cathedral Lay clerks, which John Barker rightly described as "luminous, with an edge" (Nov/Dec 2009). In a number of respects it is equal to Michel Noone's interpretation included on his ten disc survey of Victoria's music with Ensemble Plus Ultra (2011, DG 4779747). Any of these performances are better than the idiosyncratic arrangement for single voices and organ by Musica Ficta (Sept/Oct 2001), which is the only other recording to include the Morales motet; but, on that release, voices only sing the ostinato, not the topical text. Like a good story, following the "plot" supplied by Rees's selection, you reach a deeper understanding of the deep creativity and beauty of these three Spanish composers in responding to what they heard in Josquin's music.

 

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