Release Date: 01 January 2000
Label: Naxos / Naxos Classics
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 4891030508361
Genres: Classical
Composer/Series: PALESTRINA / LASSUS
Description
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c.1525 - 1594) Missa Hodie Christus natus est Hodie Christus natus est Stabat mater Orlande de Lassus (1532 - 1594)Missa Bell' Amfitrit' altera When Palestrina and Lassus died in 1594, Europe lost her two most prolific and celebrated composers. Between them they composed almost 160 masses and 900 motets, an achievement unparalleled in the sixteenth century. Italian and Flemish respectively, Palestrina and Lassus were essentially conservative musicians. That is not to say that either composer lacked inspiration, merely that both chose to consolidate the musical style that they had inherited from their predecessors rather than to innovate. Any superficial similarity between the styles of the two composers is partly due to the fact that Lassus spent his impressionable teenage years in Italy thereby exposing himself to a musical heritage similar to that of Palestrina. Consequently it is difficult to compare Palestrina and Lassus without seeming to favour the achievements of one over the other. Palestrina was more consistent and Lassus more whimsical: it is for this reason that Palestrina's reputation has survived intact whereas Lassus is still waiting for unreserved acclaim. The 'Bell' Amfitrit' altera' and 'Hodie Christus natus est'masses are a testament to the craft of each composer, and the two works demonstrate fundamental differences of style. Both masses are written for eight voices and both create a variety of choral textures - Palestrina openly and Lassus more subtly. However, Palestrina's approach to the text of the mass is expansive whereas Lassus is more concise; and Palestrina's contrapuntal lines are seamless whereas Lassus's voice-leading is frequently disjunct. The two masses serve as landmarks of musical history by confirming the different characters of the two composers - Palestrina is seen in this music as robust and infallible whereas Lassus appears frenetic and intense. Such generalization inevitably provides as many exceptions as rules. For every phrase of the 'Missa Hodie Christus natus est' during which Palestrina exhibits respectful objectivity there are as many moments of harmonic caprice; and within every section of the 'Missa Bell' Amfitrit' altera' within which Lassus displays an intensely personal relationship between text and music there is an underlying structural security as solid as anything created by Palestrina. Both the 'Missa Hodie Christus natus est' and the 'Missa Bell' Amfitrit' altera' are parody masses - that is, they are based on pre-existent polyphonic works. Lassus and Palestrina, and indeed almost every other late-Renaissance composer, used this compositional technique frequently, basing masses on everything from plainsong and polyphonic church music to secular, even bawdy, chansons and folk-songs. The motet 'Hodie Christus natus est' is in this case Palestrina's own setting of the Christmas text, and the mass is strongly reminiscent of the motet especially in the opening
Tracklisting
Dariia Lytvishko
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; Marin Alsop
Alice Di Piazza; Basel Sinfonietta; NDR Bigband; Titus Engel
Anna Alas i Jove; Miquel Villalba
David Childs; Black Dyke Band; Nicholas Childs
The Brahms Trio
Roman Fediurko
London Symphony Orchestra; Rafael Sanz-Espert
