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Fanfare Magazine: 39:1 (09-10/2015) 
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Ricercar
RIC355



Code-barres / Barcode : 5400439003552

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This disc is a double celebration, according to its liner notes. First, it is the 500th birthday of Cipriano de Rore, to whom all of us here at Fanfare wish the best. Second, it is the 35th anniversary of Ricercar’s founding. The company has chosen to enlist six of the performing groups in their stable for the 19 cuts on this album. All of the material would appear to have been intended specifically for this album, being recorded last year, save for Doulce Mémoire’s single contribution of Ancor che col partire by Cabezon, from 2011.

Jérôme Lejeune is credited with the disc’s artistic direction, recording, and editing. He’s the founder of Ricercar as well and believes, as he states in his lengthy liner notes, that Rore “was also the greatest composer of his time.” (Partisans of Willaert, Palestrina, and Tallis, among others, can line up at the door on the left.) His program divides itself in two, between works by Rore, and variants of his best-known music by other composers—with one selection, Rore’s take on Lassus’s Suzanne un jour, an outlier. Mon petit cueur isn’t well known, but there are no rarities here from the composer. Some of the transcriptions and variational arrangements are seldom heard, however, among them Girolamo Dalla Casa’s Non gemme, non fin oro and Non vide ‘l mondo. Curiously, two versions of Cabezon’s Ancor che col partire are supplied, though the inclusions can be justified by distinct arrangements: one for harp, the other for dulcian quartet.

This brings us to the subject of performance. Six different ensembles means a diversity of sound, multiplied by the fact that several of the groups who are most frequently heard (Clematis in six cuts, L’Achéron in seven, Cappella Mediterranea in three) vary their performing ranks considerably on any given work, from solos to five or six instruments. Alarcón’s 22-voice Chœur de Chambre de Namur in Rore’s Ave Regina a 7 is the exception. His Cappella Mediterranea also enriches the original Ancor che col partire with instrumental doubling by violin, two bass viols, and strumming archlute, turning it into the audio equivalent of a room decorated to the tastes of Cesare Borgia.

That isn’t meant as a criticism of his performers. Whatever may be said of Alarcón’s love of a rich, sometimes anachronistic sound, he works with expert musicians and secures fine performances from them. In particular, soprano Mariana Flores delivers an emotive reading of the text to Non è ch’il duol me scemi without indulging in verismo vocal habits. The other ensembles are as fine as their reviews in Fanfare would indicate, which is to say, both stylish and delightful to listen to. The engineering, as well, is excellent, save in the aforementioned Ave Regina. For whatever reason, it was recorded at far too great a distance, resulting in a very wan sound.

That aside, with texts and translations, this is a superior album, and a good addition to the catalog of Rore and Rore-derived material.

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