Search - Pierre de la Rue, Josquin Desprez, James Wood :: La Rue: Requiem; Josquin: Hercules Mass

There's something about Josquin's music that connects immediately and firmly with the spiritual, and the same can be said of Pierre de la Rue's Requiem, which movingly opens the program on this recording. Although no one knows for whom the work was written, its substantial emotional impact cannot be denied. And the singing by the New London Chamber Choir couldn't be more polished, clear, or tuneful, as the mass's reverent mood is established from the very first notes. Rarely do you hear a choir with such pleasingly bright sopranos, who never become harsh and are always sensitive to the overall balance. This first-class music making extends to the disc's other two works: Josquin's famous mass based on the name of its dedicatee, and a lament on the death of Johannes Ockeghem. --David Vernier