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GRAMOPHONE (09/2013)
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SIGCD326
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: 0635212032626
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Reviewer: Fabrice Fitch
Richafort’s Requiem reissued and the focus of a King’s Singers
Josquin tribute
It is heartening that the King’s Singers should devote themselves to a work
as comparatively obscure as Jean Richafort’s Requiem. Equally heartening is
it that this presumed memorial to Josquin should now boast three recordings
of a very high standard. The King’s Singers’ programme replicates nearly
exactly that of Cinquecento, issued just a year ago (Hyperion, A/12). Both
present the work alongside other tributes to the great master by Vinders,
Appenzeller and Gombert. The new disc also includes a less well‑known
offering by Jacquet of Mantua that manages to string together a few
‘soundclips’ from Josquin’s greatest hits: that this approach is
particularly topical today only adds to the appeal.
As though on cue, Harmonia Mundi has reissued the Huelgas Ensemble’s recording of the work in a rather less coherent programme entirely devoted to the composer. When only this was available, one had to make do with Paul Van Nevel’s eccentric decision to double certain voices at the octave, for which the beauty of the Huelgas sound doesn’t quite compensate. You might say that it’s easier to accept it now that two other recordings exist, which both play things much straighter. These are nicely contrasted in timbre, Cinquecento darker and more burnished, the King’s Singers clearer and brighter. I’d suggest Cinquecento’s timbre and previous experience better suit them to the repertoire and that their local decisions are better judged: the final turn to triple time in the Gombert, for instance, is a little too jaunty with the King’s Singers. In short, each of these recordings is worthy, in its own way, of a deeply involving and inventive piece: I’m grateful to have heard all three.
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