Rating: 4/5
Review:
Beautiful but lacking real depth
There is a lot to like about this Josquin recording, but for me there
is something missing at its heart.
The programme is
excellent – a fine selection of Josquin’s works, includingNymphes
des Bois, his magnificent lament for Ockeghem, and the psalm setting
for which the disc is named, Miserere mei, which I think is one of
the greatest glories of the Renaissance. The singing is technically
excellent, with impeccable intonation and a lovely overall sound,
helped by a lower, Flemish pitch and quite a resonant acoustic. This
gives a beautiful rich timbre to the music which is very seductive.
However...under that
lovely sound I think the performance lacks a real engagement with the
texts, with little sense to me of a depth of spirituality or
emotional weight. Tempi are generally fairly quick which doesn’t
help the effect, and I get a sense of nipping through the works
rather than really exploring their meaning and bringing out the real
depth in the music.
I do like this disc
and I have no complaints about the beauty of the sound, but by
comparison with some other recordings like those by The Hilliard
Ensemble or Cinquecento, I find it a little shallow. This is a
personal sense, of course, and you may not agree, but my
recommendation is slightly qualified.
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