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Fanfare Magazine: 38:2 (11-12/2014)
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Too rarely we get another unrecorded Palestrina Mass, such as this one, published in 1590. It is the centerpiece of a program of music for Pentecost, its cantus firmus taken from a Pentecost hymn in the Sarum use. The program begins with the motet Dum complerentur using a responsory text; another (Loquebantur variis linguis) using texts from the Acts of the Apostles that had been used in two chant antiphons for the feast; and Veni Creator Spiritus, the Vespers hymn for Pentecost, one of the most familiar of all Office hymns, for which Palestrina set the odd verses for four voices (five in the last verse). The Mass is preceded by all nine verses of the chant setting of the hymn that furnishes its cantus firmus. Another motet follows the Mass, a setting for double choir of the sequence for the feast. After three excerpts from The Song of Songs (Canticum Canticorum), a continuing feature of this series, the program concludes with a Magnificat in the fourth tone for four voices, set to the even verses, found in a manuscript in the Julian chapel. As such, it may be a first recording.
This Mass is a marvelous addition to the composer’s discography. It makes 70 of the 104 Masses on record by my count. We still have about 34 to go, along with two that have not been recorded since the mono era. There is no indication of how long before 1590 it was composed, but the mature style does not suggest an early work. Only 36 of his Masses were published by that date, and all but a few of the works so favored have now been recorded. The notes do not go into great detail about the music except to point out how well the composer used the hymn tune, not just set out clearly in the Kyrie but featured prominently throughout the Mass and sung in imitation in several voices. The performance is entirely worthy, having strong, well-balanced voices combining the flexibility of a vocal ensemble with the full sound of a choir. Christophers adds two sopranos, for a total of 18 voices. I hope he will continue this series with more of the unrecorded Masses, or at least the one that Jim Welch recorded with a Bronx parish choir in 1951. A replacement of that is overdue.
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