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Stile Antico – Victoria: Tenebrae Responsories (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 01:11:19 minutes | 1,21 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © harmonia mundi

The Tenebræ responsories come from an immense collection of polyphonic music for Holy Week, the Officium Hebdomadæ Sanctæ, published by Victoria in 1585, which brings together several pieces written during the twenty years he spent in Rome. The responsories, brought together here, form part of a much longer Tenebræ, which essentially combined the monastic Hours of matins and lauds, for each of the final three days of the Holy Week. One of the characteristic traits of this service consists in the progressive extinguishing of fifteen votive candles until the church is finally plunged into the darkness from which the ceremony draws its name. The responsory is one part of a much broader liturgy, which was for the most part sung in plainsong. The musical richness of Victoria’s polyphonic compositions made a striking contrast to this liturgy. Such an effect is harder to effect in concert, or even on a recording, where we are outside the liturgical context: here, we have uninterrupted polyphony. While the music is very varied, the uninterrupted use of the same mode and the same textures in three or four pieces throughout these 18 Responsories could, at times, give the impression that one is listening to a single piece. To counteract that impression, here and there the Stile Antico vocal ensemble has introduced extracts from readings of the Lamentations, sung in plainsong at the end of each Responsory. And so the contrast is restored. The programme closes with the luminous and oh-so-soothing six-voice motet for Holy Week O Domine Jesu Christi, again published in Rome in 1576.

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Stile Antico – The Phoenix Rising (2013)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 01:14:31 minutes | 1,29 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © harmonia mundi

The rising “phoenix” in the title of this release by the leaderless, 12-voice British choir Stile Antico carries several meanings. The album presents selections from the ten-volume 1920s publication Tudor Church Music, which had a great deal to do with the prevalence of English Renaissance choral music in the general choral scene of today. That book essentially revived the reputation of English music, but it has itself become shrouded in historical mists; the album marks both the original funding of Tudor Church Music by the Carnegie UK Trust and the centenary of that organization in 2013. The Tudor dynasty lasted for nearly 120 years in Britain (from 1485 to 1603), during which a great deal happened, both politically and musically. What you get here is not a greatest-hits selection from that period, but a mix that aims to convey the musical ambitions of the period more broadly. There are several well-known pieces that are part of the arsenal of many standing choirs: Gibbons’ O clap your hands and Byrd’s Mass for five voices (properly broken up the shorter pieces) and Ave verum corpus. But there are also larger works, in Latin, that let the choir really show its considerable ability to draw fine distinctions of texture. Consider Nolo mortem peccatoris by Thomas Morley, better known for stereotypical madrigals like Now is the month of maying. Nolo mortem peccatoris, a Latin anthem, is touched by Morley’s madrigal language. Even more expressive is the harmonically experimental In ieunio et fletu of Tallis seemingly trying to atone for the simplicity of his Anglican church music. This is, in a nutshell, a fine selection of Renaissance choral music, sung by an unusual and extremely virtuosic choir, and well recorded in hybrid multichannel SACD sound (in, unfortunately, a completely unidentified location). Bravo.

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Stile Antico – The Golden Renaissance: Josquin des Prez (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:22:54 minutes | 2,79 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Decca (UMO) (Classics)

Stile Antico launches a trilogy of recordings on the Decca label with a portrait of Josquin des Prez, marking the 500th anniversary of the composer’s death. The superb Missa Pange lingua forms the centrepiece of a varied sequence of motets and chansons, including some of Josquin’s best loved music – Ave Maria, virgo serena and Inviolata, integra et casta es Maria – as well as the premiere recording of the chanson Vivrai je tousjours. Two works dedicated to Josquin’s memory, by Hieronymus Vinders and Jacquet de Mantua, complete this sumptuous programme. .. JOSQUIN DES PREZ

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