Rating: 5/5
Review:
An excellent disc
This is an excellent disc of two of Lassus's mass settings and a sublime motet. Oxford Camerata have been making some very good recordings for many years now, and this from 1993 is one of the best of theirs that I know.
Lassus is a slightly underrated composer, I think. He is sort of the Haydn of his day: prolific and brilliant, while carrying a sense with a lot of today's audience that he was a little stolid and dull, whereas in fact both Haydn and Lassus wrote some of the best and most enjoyable music of their respective eras. These two masses, based on chansons of the day, are good examples. They are very beautiful in their different ways, and the Missa Entre vous filles especially is quite playful (the original chanson being a rather racy celebration of the female body.) I think the gem of this disc, though, is Infelix ego, a wonderful "darkly spiritual" motet which absolutely glows between the two masses. It's a lovely programme.
Oxford Camerata sing it all superbly. A glance at the names of the singers will help to explain why: Carys Lane, Rebecca Outram, Andrew Carwood, Edward Wickham...to name just a few. These are great names of early music now and Jeremy Summerly is a very fine conductor and considerable scholar of this repertoire. Together they make something quite special here, with impeccable intonation, a fine balance and blend, a lovely fluency of line and a genuine sense of the meaning of the text. I couldn't ask for better, and this is a real favourite disc of mine.
You get full texts but, as is usual at Naxos's budget price, rather sparse notes and presentation. However, the performance and recorded sound are first class and that's what really matters. Very warmly recommended indeed.
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