Johann Rosenmüller: Magnificat and Sacred Concertos

Johann Rosenmüller: Magnificat and Sacred Concertos
Ensemble 1684, Gregor Meyer
CPO 555174-2

That Johann Rosenmüller (1619-84) is still something of a rarity in modern performance is particularly surprising considering the quality of music on this second disc devoted to his works by Gregor Meyer and Markus Berger’s Ensemble 1684. [...]

This new album opens with Rosenmüller’s Magnificat a 18, a compositional tour-de-force in the Venetian style. It is presented here with gripping attention to detail, particularly in the delicious contrasting instrumental textures where the silvery violin tone is particularly pleasing. My tastes, however, favour a more demonstrative vocal tone and whilst I enjoyed the different personalities of these singers, I would have preferred them to be more prominent in the overall balance, particularly at Deposuit potentes de sede (he hath put down the might from their seat) where the musical contrasts between the ‘putting down’ and the ‘exalting’ are so inviting. Similarly, I wanted more yearning from the solo voices at Esurientes implevit bonis (He hath filled the hungry with good things). [...]


To read the full text of this article please visit www.gramophone.co.uk (August 2021)

Isaac: Missa Wohlauff gut Gsell von hinnen & other works

Isaac: Missa Wohlauff gut Gsell von hinnen & other works
Cinquecento
Hyperion CDA68337

Heinrich Isaac (c1450-1517) is one of Josquin’s greatest contemporaries. He had a glittering career working for Lorenzo de’ Medici in Florence and then Maximilian I in Vienna, and alongside the towering achievement of his Choralis Constantinus his masses and motets always catch my attention on disc. Missa Wohlauff gut Gsell von hinnen is an intriguing work: written during his early years in Vienna it is based on the popular song Comment peult avoir joye? (How can one have joy whom fortune opposes?) which is also performed on this disc in Josquin’s 4voice setting from the early 1490s. Isaac had already written a 4voice mass based on this song during his time in Florence, but for the 6voice version recorded here he revisited, reordered and expanded many of the sections of that earlier work to make a much larger-scale setting which is both rich and intricate.

[...] What I admire most from Cinquecento though is their sense of polyphonic momentum and on this disc in particular, they find a perfect balance of long-range phrasing with surface detail. The result is a sonically beautiful performance which holds my attention.

To read the full text of this article please visit www.gramophone.co.uk (August 2021)