Search - Claritas, Luca Marenzio, James Grossmith :: Luca Marenzio: Missa super ''Iniquos Odio Habui''

Rarely Recorded Sacred Works by Marenzio

J. Burton | 03/24/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"James Grossmith directs the eight-voice a cappella choir Claritas in a recording of the "Missa super Iniquos odio habui" and motets by Luca Marenzio (1553-1599).



"This recording commemorates the four-hundredth anniversary of the death of Luca Marenzio (1553-1599). Best known as a madrigalist, he also wrote a considerable amount of sacred works, many of which are recorded here. Marenzio traveled frequently and at one point in his career served under King Sigismund III of Poland, where many of his extant works, such as the incomplete Missa super Iniquos odio habui were published. The motets are taken from his Motecta festorum totius anni, 1585, and Sacrae Cantiones, published posthumously in 1616." (Christopher Schifani - medieval.org)



The works on this recording:



1. Iniquos odio habui

2. Missa super Iniquos odio habui: Kyrie

3. Missa super Iniquos odio habui: Gloria

4. quam gloriosa est regnum

5. Salve Regina

6. Hodie Christus natus est

7. sacrum convivium

8. Dum esset summus Pontifex

9. Magnificat

10. Rex gloriae

11. Gaudent in coelis

12. Laudate Dominum

13. Jubilate Deo

14. Hodie Beata Virgo Maria

15. Tribus miraculis

16. Cantantibus organis

17. Cantate Domino canticum novum

"

Insight Outstripping Technique

Giordano Bruno | Wherever I am, I am. | 01/31/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This recording by 'Claritas' is almost the specimen-case standard for a four-star performance. It has a lot to recommend it. The rhythmic interpretation is very strong, the phrasing is well-conceived, the tempi are appropriately nimble, why, the whole aesthetic conception is intelligent and solidly 'informed' by musical scholarship. Unfortunately, however, the singers don't have the fundamental technical skills to manifest their conception fully. Their attack ensemble is ragged, their diction isn't synched, and their tuning is way too often insecure. Despite the fact that I admire their effort, I can't whole-heartedly recommend this performance by Claritas.



And that's a shame. Luca Marenzio (1553-1599) was a potent force in the development of the madrigal and eventually of the "secunda prattica" of madrigalesque opera. In both influence and accomplishment, Marenzio belongs on the rank of Gabrieli and perhaps even of Monteverdi. Most of his innovations, of course, were to be heard in his nine books of madrigals. This selection of mass movements and motets would have sounded more 'conservative' to Marenzio's colleagues in Northern Italy; in fact, it would have sounded to them a lot like the works of Roland de Lassus, the most renowned composer of the era. But Marenzio infused his motets with an energy -- an Italian 'allegrezza -- that Lassus never approached."