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Reviewer: J.
F. Weber
This marvelous vocal ensemble
usually gives us tightly focused collections, but this time it dedicates a
full disc to one composer, only the second after John Sheppard. Giaches de
Wert (1535–1596) had full discs of sacred music by Erik van Nevel (Fanfare
17:5) and Stephen Cleobury (32:4), as well as madrigals (13:5 and 21:3). The
Fleming began his career as a choirboy in Naples (shades of Lassus!), and
spent his life at the courts of Mantua and Ferrara. From 1565 to the end he
was maestro di cappella at Mantua’s Santa Barbara. This disc is assembled
from the Second and Third Books of Motets, both published in 1581. In a
cursory search I find no previous recordings of Saule, Saule; Virgo Maria;
or Deus iustus. The remarkable thing about Wert’s motets is his choice of
texts, not always liturgical selections for Mass or Office. He chooses
dramatic passages from the New Testament, powerful and inspiring, such as
the passage from Philippians with the phrase about being obedient unto
death, death on the Cross; from Acts, asking Saul, why do you persecute me;
or from Matthew, with the Canaanite woman pleading that even dogs eat crumbs
from the table; or again from Matthew, with the rebuke to the apostles, Why
are you afraid, you of little faith? Saule, Saule is remarkable for setting
only the dialogue between Saul and Jesus, giving it to separate four-voice
choirs but letting the voices of the other choir intrude in counterpoint.
Ascendente Jesu, that rebuke to the apostles’ lack of faith, already
recorded at least four times, is celebrated for the highly dramatized
treatment of every moment of the narrative, ending with the sublime calm
after the storm. This ensemble of 13 mixed voices is smaller than Cleobury’s men’s group or Van Nevel’s mixed group, and four of the motets are sung one voice to a part. While I found both earlier motet collections admirable, Stile antico excels in the three motets that are heard on all three discs. The plaintive Vox in Rama, the most familiar of these works with seven versions in my collection, is particularly appealing in Stile antico’s rendering. Only these three discs have O Crux ave, the penultimate strophe (at which all kneel) of Venantius Fortunatus’s magnificent hymn for Passiontide Vexilla Regis prodeunt, a heart-tugging moment in the Office (“Hail, O Cross, our only hope!”); all three versions are effective, but Stile antico is the most restrained. Gaudete in Domino, a brief fragment of the familiar Advent text, is also heard only on the same three collections.
I hailed
this ensemble with its debut recording (30:5 and 31:1), and have not lost
any of my affection for its work as each succeeding issue arrived. Its
members have a remarkable affinity for the music they choose to interpret. I
daresay none of the series of discs surpasses the latest one, a veritable
triumph. Remind me to put it on my next Want List.
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