Palestrina 500
Augsburger Domsingknaben, I Fedeli/Stefan Steinemann
rec. 2024, Hans-Leo-Hassler-Saal, Haus St. Ambrosius, Augsburg, Germany
Texts and translations included
Reviewed as a download
Ars Produktion ARS38380 [56]

2025 was Palestrina year, as he is assumed to have been born in 1525. As was to be expected, several recordings with his music, sometimes in combination with music by other masters from his time, have been released. I have not heard all of them, but among those I have heard, the one reviewed here is by far the most interesting I have encountered.

That is first because the core of the programme is a mass that has probably never before been recorded. Palestrina scored the Missa Fratres ego enim accepi for eight voices in two choirs. Polychoral music is mostly associated with Venice, but Rome had its own tradition in this respect. The best-known work of this kind in Palestrina’s oeuvre is his Stabat mater. The mass is of the parody type: it is based on a pre-existing work whose thematic material is incorporated, sometimes adapted in various ways, into the mass. Palestrina based this mass on a motet of his own also scored for eight voices. Its text is taken from St Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians (Ch. 11, vs 23-24), in which he refers to Christ’s ordinance of the Holy Communion – in Catholic doctrine, the eucharist.

The double choir structure allows for playing with dynamics. The two choirs alternate, but by combining them Palestrina can emphasize parts of the text. This is one reason why the performances are notable for their dynamic shading. Another reason is that the singing itself is dynamically differentiated, in a way that is not self-evident. The performances are different from most recordings of Palestrina’s works that I have heard. These interpretations remind me of those by the Sistine Chapel Choir under the direction of Massimo Palombella. It is a shame that since the director’s dismissal the experiments in the performance practice of Palestrina’s oeuvre seem to have come to a halt.

It is probably no coincidence that this recording is an attempt to offer a different perspective on Palestrina. The Augsburger Domsingknaben, a choir of boys and young men, cover a wide repertoire because of its role in the liturgy, like most British choirs of this kind. However, unlike those, early music is the core of its activities, also because its director, Stefan Steinemann, is an early music expert.

Other features of these performances also show his concern to come closer to the way Palestrina’s music may have been performed. One of them is the pitch, which is at 490 Hz. The liner-notes say that this pitch “is documented in many European churches of the 16th century.” I am not sure about this: it seems rather a German speciality – which brings me to another aspect of these performances: the use of instruments. I can’t remember having heard Palestrina’s music being performed with combinations of voices and instruments, as in the venues where Palestrina worked, the latter were not employed. The mass performed here is taken from a collection published in 1601 in Venice, almost a decade after the composer’s death. The fact that this mass was published, opens various possibilities with regard to performance practice. The performances by the Augsburger Domsingknaben may reflect the way polyphony was performed in Augsburg in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The history of this choir goes back to the 15th century. In the southern part of Germany, the use of instruments was common practice, although certainly not applied in all performances. However, the subject of the motet, on which the mass is based, and the scoring of both the motet and the mass for eight-part double choir, suggests that they are of more than common stature. That may be an argument for the participation of instruments.

They play a prominent role in two other pieces on this disc. One of the most exciting motets by Tomás Luis de Victoria, a pupil of Palestrina, is Ave Maria, also for eight voices in two choirs. Here the second choir largely echoes the first. The four parts of that choir are performed by the instruments, which add diminutions, as was common practice in the decades around 1600, and in the motet Osculetur me – Trahe me post te by Pierre de Manchicourt, the polyphony is performed instrumentally, whereas the cantus firmus is sung by a section of the choir.

William Byrd’s Miserere mei Deus is rightly performed a capella, but Tui sunt coeli by Orlandus Lassus is again performed in a vocal/instrumental line-up. Lassus knew Palestrina’s oeuvre; he took the latter’s famous madrigal Io son ferito ahi lasso as the basis of a mass. At the court in Munich, where he acted for many years as Kapellmeister, the use of instruments is documented. The disc ends with another eight-part work by Palestrina, Jubilate Deo, whose text is a good reason to again use instruments.

It cannot be appreciated enough when attempts are made to come closer to the way Renaissance polyphony was performed at the time it was written or published. The use of a choir of only male voices is an important step, which is unfortunately rather rare these days. There is every reason to cherish the existence and activities of such choirs. The Augsburger Domsingknaben are a fine specimen of this kind. An aspect of original performance practice that is probably hard – if not impossible – to copy, is the size of choirs. The booklet lists thirteen sopranos and twelve altos. Such a number of singers may be much more than was common in the sixteenth century, with the exception of some places at some specific occasions. One reason may be that at that time boys singing in a choir were older than today, and therefore had more vocal power. Because of the size of the choir the transparency is not optimal, in comparison with a vocal ensemble with one voice per part, and the text is not always clearly intelligible. However, in Palestrina’s time that was not the main concern of composers.

It does in no way compromise my appreciation of this recording. In fact, this is one of the finest, and even most exciting Palestrina discs that I have heard in recent years. As I mentioned, the Augsburger Domsingknaben is a very fine choir. In Palestrina’s mass, there are some episodes in which one soprano (the same?) sings solo with instruments (for instance the Benedictus), and what a great voice he has. The participation of instruments in Palestrina’s music is unusual, but it works very well here, also thanks to the way they are used and the qualities of the ensemble I Fedeli.

The performance practice and the way it is applied deserve a special recommendation.

Johan van Veen
www.musica-dei-donum.org
twitter.com/johanvanveen

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Contents
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525/26-1594)
Fratres ego enim accepi a 8
Pierre de Manchicourt (1510-1564)
Osculetur me (1. Pars) – Trahe me post te (2. Pars) a 6
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Missa Fratres ego enim accepi a 8:
Kyrie
Gloria
William Byrd (1543-1623)
Miserere mei Deus a 5
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Ricercar del terzo tuono à 4
Missa Fratres ego enim accepi a 8:
Credo
Ricercar del primo tuono à 4
Orlandus Lassus (1532-1594)
Tui sunt coeli a 8
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Missa Fratres ego enim accepi a 8:
Sanctus
Benedictus
Agnus Dei
Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611)
Ave Maria a 8
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Jubilate Deo a 8