Palestrina Revealed
The Choir of Clare College, Cambridge / Graham Ross
rec. 2023, All Hallows’ Church, Gospel Oak, London
Latin texts & English translations included
Harmonia Mundi HMM 905375 [80]
Though the precise date of birth of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina is not entirely certain, the musical world is celebrating his 500th anniversary in 2025. I would imagine that there will be a fair few recordings of his music issued this year; Graham Ross and the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge have got in early. Furthermore, all the pieces by Palestrina on this album are claimed as first recordings; all of them are sung in performing editions by Francis Bevan. Intriguingly, Graham Ross has chosen to complete his programme with three wonderful examples of Tudor polyphony, each of which link to the Palestrina items.
Before discussing the music, I ought to say something about the recording, Graham Ross says in a note in the booklet that he and his singers “chose to record this entire album in a circular formation, enabling in real time an immediacy of both visual and musical responses to the tapestry of weaving counterpoint”. I listened to the CD as a “vanilla” stereo recording and, of course, you can’t quite get the surround sound effect. What I will say, though, is that in Ad te levavi oculos meos a 12, for which the singers are divided into three four-part choirs, the recording clearly differentiates between the three groups. Furthermore, it seems that the in-the-round formation has worked because the choir sings the often-complex polyphony impressively.
The Palestrina selection includes two Masses. Thomas Neal tells us in his useful notes that Missa Emendemus in Melius (Let us make amends) was published posthumously by Palestrina’s son Iginio shortly after his father’s death. The text ‘Emendemus in Melius’ is the Responsory at the service on Ash Wednesday when ashes are distributed; it’s also used at Matins on the First Sunday in Lent. Neal advises that Palestrina’s mass is “loosely based on the Gregorian melody”. The setting is a fine one. The Gloria is direct and concise in expression; Ross and his singers bring the movement to an uplifting conclusion. The Credo is similarly concise; here, the Clare College Choir articulates the music with particular confidence and clarity. The Sanctus, by contrast, is expansive, though Ross rightly moves things along a bit at ‘Pleni sunt cæli’. The Benedictus (up to the ‘Hosanna’) is sung by three solo voices (ATB); they do very well. Agnus Dei I is, like the rest of the Mass, in four parts, but for Agnus Dei II Palestrina added a fifth part.
The other Mass setting is Missa Memor esto verbi tui (Think upon your servant, as concerning your word). This is a five-voice setting and unlike Missa Emendemus in Melius it is a parody Mass for which Palestrina’s own motet furnished the basis. The Kyrie features very flowing music. In the Credo, Palestrina weaves exciting polyphonic patterns. An excellent solo quartet (SATT) sings the ‘Crucifixus’; conventionally, you might expect the full choir to sing the ‘Et resurrexit’ but on this occasion the quartet deliver that passage too and the full choir only returns at ‘Et in Spiritum Sanctum Dominum’; when the full choir returns their music is at first homophonic before breaking out into thrillingly exultant polyphony. A different quartet of solo singers (STTB) is used for the Benedictus. In the Agnus Dei, the choir’s expert control of the sustained lines is admirable.
Both of these Masses are exceptional examples of Palestrina’s craft and I think it’s something of a coup for the Clare College Choir that they’ve recorded them for the first time.
Also making its recording debut is the Magnificat secundi toni a 5. This is an alternatim setting and it’s a good opener to the programme because at once one is impressed by the freshness and vitality of the choir’s singing. Two sections are allotted to quartets of solo voices (ATTB and SSTT); both groups do well. The variety of polyphonic writing which Palestrina brings to this work is notable, especially since the setting as a whole takes just slightly over ten minutes to perform.
Ad te levavi oculos meos, also recorded for the first time, is a setting of Psalm 123. Here, the voices are divided into three four-part choirs, which Palestrina brings together towards the end of the piece. Palestrina’s polyphony is fast-moving and generates a good deal of excitement, especially when all the voices are finally brought together. I learned from Thomas Neal’s notes that this motet appears in two sets of partbooks, both copied in the late 1570s or early 1580s. It was a very interesting idea on Graham Ross’s part to pair this piece with the six-part setting of the same words by Robert White. The earliest source for this, Neal says, is the famous Baldwin partbooks, copied between about 1575 and 1581, so roughly contemporaneously with the Palestrina. White’s setting is a fine one and in this excellent performance I especially admired the tonal purity and accuracy with which the top soprano part is sung.
William Mundy’s Memor esto verbi tui also appears in the Baldwin partbooks. In it, Mundy sets eight verses (49-56) from Psalm 119. In his similarly titled motet, which furnished the source for his parody Mass, Palestrina set only the first four of the verses selected by Mundy. Both composers set the words memorably. It seems to me that Palestrina adopts a somewhat more sober tone than his English colleague, though his polyphony is no less intricate or eloquent than Mundy’s. In the Mundy piece, the verses which Palestrina did not set begin at 2:35 and I find it interesting that from this point onwards Mundy’s music becomes more florid.
Byrd’s Emendemus in Melius has no connection with the Palestrina Mass which follows it on this CD. It was published in the Cantiones Sacrae of 1575. Byrd’s five-part writing is exquisite and here Ross’s choir sings it really well; the pacing is ideal and the singing is beautifully sustained while the lines are clearly delineated.
This is a very fine disc. The singing is exemplary throughout. These young singers achieve a lovely, carefully blended sound. The size of the group (7/7/9/6) is ideal for this music. In passing, it’s not often that in a choir of this size we find that the tenor section is the largest; that’s nice to see and rest assured, they do not dominate in any way. Graham Ross has clearly trained his choir expertly; he judges the music very well indeed.
As is usual with this choir, Sir John Rutter has returned to his alma mater to produce and engineer the recordings. He’s done a very good job indeed, balancing the ensemble in an ideal fashion which surely reflects his own expertise in choral conducting. He’s also used the warm acoustic of All Hallows’, Gospel Oak to impart just the right degree of resonance to the sound.
This disc is a most auspicious way to mark the 500th anniversary of Palestrina.
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Contents
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (ca 1525-1594)
Magnificat secundi toni a 5
William Byrd (ca 1539/40 – 1623)
Emendemus in melius a 5
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Missa Emendemus in melius a 4
Robert White (ca 1538 – 1574)
Ad te levavi oculos meos a 6
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Ad te levavi oculos meos a 12
William Mundy (ca 1529-1591)
Memor esto verbi tui a 6
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Memor esto verbi tui a 5
Missa Memor esto verbi tui a 5
