Search - Claudio Merulo, Dante Andreo, Frederic Munoz :: Claudio Merulo: Missa Apostolorum; Toccata secundo del 1 tono; Magnificat del secondo tono

St Mark's, Venice, 1568

John Austin | Kangaroo Ground, Australia | 12/01/2000

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The organ mass, which occupies most of this 2 CD set, is an early work by the Correggio born composer Claudio Merulo (1533-1604). At about the time of its composition he was first organist at St Mark's, Venice, a post he held for 25 years and where the second organist was Andrea Gabrieli. The mass setting here recorded alternates lines and verses in vocal plainchant setting with meditative organ interludes. The mass would fit comfortably onto one CD but has been flanked by a setting of the Magnificat, and an organ toccata, providing altogether 94 minutes of listening.While welcoming the opportunity to hear these works for the first time, I find a few disappointments with this Naxos issue. The organ and vocal group were not only recorded in different venues but in different years. I am aware that wonderful synthesising jobs have been done in producing CDs, but this is not one of them. The two acoustics do not match and, once you become aware of this, the effect of a genuine interactive performance is lost. It must be said, also, that there is very little variety in the music."