The Tallis Scholars & Peter Phillips – Josquin Masses – Missa Hercules Dux Ferrarie, Missa D’ung aultre amer & Missa Faysant regretz (2020) [Official Digital Download 24bit/176,4kHz]

The Tallis Scholars & Peter Phillips – Josquin Masses – Missa Hercules Dux Ferrarie, Missa D’ung aultre amer & Missa Faysant regretz (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/176,4 kHz | Time – 01:11:36 minutes | 2,65 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Gimell Records

The Tallis Scholars and Peter Phillips started their incomparable service to the 15th-century composer Josquin des Prez in 1986. And with this, the ninth volume, they conclude their journey magnificently. The “Missa Hercules Dux Ferrariae,” written for Duke Ercole I d’Este of Ferrara, is a work of extraordinary complexity and compositional virtuosity, but its sheer emotional power is remarkable. The Tallis Scholars’ purity of tone, their total identification with the idiom, and their diamond-like articulation are glorious. The “Missa D’ung aultre amer” and “Missa Faisant regretz,” simpler but equally communicative, are also superb. Atmospherically recorded, this is a gem of an album.

This release is the last in a series of nine Josquin mass recordings by The Tallis Scholars and their director, Peter Phillips. The series began in 1986, and Phillips has been the group’s director since it was founded in 1973. The Tallis Scholars are, thus, a well-oiled machine, and they’re capable of a flawless vocal blend that’s hard to match even among England’s superb collection of small choirs (the Scholars are ten strong). There are other ways to sing Josquin, but their hyper-clarity works well in his music, for it brings out the music’s striking, Bachian complexity. This particular album, despite its ultimate position, is especially good, for in the Missa Hercules Dux Ferrarie and Missa Faysant Regretz, it’s best to have no distractions from the strikingly bold underlying structure. The former work was written for Ercole (Hercules) d’Este, the Duke of Ferrara (Dux Ferrarie). Josquin derives solmization syllables from the vowels of the phrase “Hercules Dux Ferrarie” and repeats the resulting musical figure almost obsessively, presumably in the Duke’s honor. It is, one might say, a cantus firmus mass on steroids. It’s hard to imagine how striking this must have sounded in the first decade of the 16th century, but this uncannily precise recording helps in the effort. The Missa Faysant Regretz is of similar construction, but the Missa d’ung aultre amer is in the freer contrapuntal style of Josquin’s teacher Ockeghem and was apparently a tribute to him. Even more than most of the other releases in The Tallis Scholars’ series, this one gets at his genius and the nature of his compositional decisions. Not to be missed.

Tracklist:
01. The Tallis Scholars – 1a. Kyrie I (01:06)
02. The Tallis Scholars – 1b. Christe (00:45)
03. The Tallis Scholars – 1c. Kyrie II (00:54)
04. The Tallis Scholars – 2a. Gloria in excelsis Deo (01:54)
05. The Tallis Scholars – 2b. Qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere (02:04)
06. The Tallis Scholars – 3a. Credo in unum Deum (02:53)
07. The Tallis Scholars – 3b. Et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto (01:45)
08. The Tallis Scholars – 3c. Et in Spiritum Sanctum (02:21)
09. The Tallis Scholars – 4a. Sanctus (01:24)
10. The Tallis Scholars – 4b. Pleni sunt caeli (01:28)
11. The Tallis Scholars – 4c. Hosanna I (01:05)
12. The Tallis Scholars – 4d. Benedictus (01:04)
13. The Tallis Scholars – 4e. Hosanna II (01:08)
14. The Tallis Scholars – 5a. Agnus Dei I (02:25)
15. The Tallis Scholars – 5b. Agnus Dei II (02:05)
16. The Tallis Scholars – 5c. Agnus Dei III (02:58)
17. The Tallis Scholars – 1a. Kyrie I (00:56)
18. The Tallis Scholars – 1b. Christe (00:38)
19. The Tallis Scholars – 1c. Kyrie II (00:39)
20. The Tallis Scholars – 2. Gloria in excelsis Deo (01:58)
21. The Tallis Scholars – 3a. Credo in unum Deum (02:24)
22. The Tallis Scholars – 3b. Et resurrexit tertia die (01:53)
23. The Tallis Scholars – 4. Sanctus (01:46)
24. The Tallis Scholars – 5a. Tu solus qui facis mirabilia (01:46)
25. The Tallis Scholars – 5b. Ad te solum confugimus (00:39)
26. The Tallis Scholars – 5c. Ad te preces effundimus (00:37)
27. The Tallis Scholars – 5d. D’ung aultre amer (00:44)
28. The Tallis Scholars – 5e. Audi nostra suspiria (00:59)
29. The Tallis Scholars – 6a. Agnus Dei I (00:57)
30. The Tallis Scholars – 6b. Agnus Dei II (00:45)
31. The Tallis Scholars – 6c. Agnus Dei III (01:04)
32. The Tallis Scholars – 1a. Kyrie I (00:52)
33. The Tallis Scholars – 1b. Christe (01:02)
34. The Tallis Scholars – 1c. Kyrie II (00:50)
35. The Tallis Scholars – 2a. Gloria in excelsis Deo (02:10)
36. The Tallis Scholars – 2b. Qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere (02:08)
37. The Tallis Scholars – 3a. Credo in unum Deum (02:08)
38. The Tallis Scholars – 3b. Et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto (01:35)
39. The Tallis Scholars – 3c. Et in Spiritum Sanctum (02:27)
40. The Tallis Scholars – 4a. Sanctus (01:45)
41. The Tallis Scholars – 4b. Pleni sunt caeli (01:27)
42. The Tallis Scholars – 4c. Hosanna I (01:01)
43. The Tallis Scholars – 4d. Benedictus (01:51)
44. The Tallis Scholars – 4e. Hosanna II (01:05)
45. The Tallis Scholars – 5a. Agnus Dei I (01:10)
46. The Tallis Scholars – 5b. Agnus Dei II (01:29)
47. The Tallis Scholars – 5c. Agnus Dei III (03:10)

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