Search - Cristobal de Morales :: Morales: Magnificat; Motets; Lamentations

Glorious music, performance and recording.

Niall Fox | Ireland | 02/05/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This ,as Stephen Rice points out in his notes, is his first venture,geographically, out of the repertoire after which his group is so specifically named.Significantly though, when he decided to highlight a composer outside the environs of Brabant, he chose one of exactly the same generation as Gombert, De Manchicourt, Crecquillon etc.In so doing he adds more artillery to the growing argument that this under-rated generation between Josquin and Palestrina has much to be sung about. How pertinent is introducing this Spanish composer to the view he seems to promote? I think I would answer that question with another: is Morales also under-rated? ...and the answer is , for me, a resounding yes. Morales is my favourite Spanish Renaissance composer and first listening to this disc was a pure joy to me from start to finish.I had already admired the Brabant Ensemble but I think it is here that they excel themselves most so far.It is evident that they really enjoy themselves , and the music gets a thorough , outright singing. The fervour of the singers increases at the right moments.There is brightness at the top of the register but not enough to distract from the delightful happenings underneath. Tuning, as far as I can hear it, is as near to perfect as I wouldn't be able to tell.This is possibly my best buy of last year.One fascinating thing I want to add is that the motet "Spem In Alium" sounded remarkably like Gombert to me even before I read Mr. Rice's excellent notes and found out that Gombert is a fellow suspect in its creation.It spews out false relations like most of Gombert (very untypical in Morales' output) but it was more the sense of relentless polyphony ,with difficulty to enjoy one moment because the next is just as good that aroused my suspicions.It could be by Morales,who was equally but differently brilliant(in my opinion),and who am I to argue with Stephen Rice? - but it doesn't matter, it is now in my own top three or four motets across the repertoire and enough reason alone to recommend the recording.Thank you to all concerned in it , Cristobal De Morales included."