Search - Jeremy Summerly, Oxford Camerata :: Willaert: Missa Christus Resurgens, Magnificat Sexti Toni, etc / Summerly, Oxford Camerata

Willaert was born in what is now the Netherlands c.1490 and spent 35 years as music director at St. Mark's in Venice, where he taught the first generation of Italian composers who regularly obtained that position after him (A. Gabrieli et al.). It was common in his time to base a Mass on a preexisting melody, or even a preexisting short polyphonic work used as a framework for much amplification. Missa Christus resurgens is such a Mass, based on a comparatively unassuming eponymous motet by Willaert's contemporary Jean Richafort (also included on this disc). Although polyphonically complex, this Mass (like those of Palestrina from the end of the 16th century) has extended melodic lines that make the listener feel more at home than is usual for music of the time, a characteristic emphasized by Summerly in this refined performance. With two readily absorbable shorter pieces as well, this disc can serve as an introduction to a particularly fertile period of music history. --Paul Turok