Cappella Pratensis

Requiem

Price: € 20.95
Format: SACD hybrid
Label: Challenge Classics
UPC: 0608917254129
Catnr: CC 72541
Release date: 13 January 2012
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Label
Challenge Classics
UPC
0608917254129
Catalogue number
CC 72541
Release date
13 January 2012

""In the Missa Cum Jocunditate the singers create dazzling columns of sound with relaxed voices.""

De Volkskrant, 15-9-2016
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Artist(s)
Composer(s)
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About the album

For its third CD on the Challenge label, Cappella Pratensis turns the page back to the very beginnings of the tradition of settings of the Requiem mass. The Requiems by Johannes Ockeghem (c. 1410-1497) and Pierre de la Rue (c. 1452-1518) form an ideal pairing, as they are the first polyphonic versions of the Mass for the Dead from the brilliant composers of the Franco-Flemish school. La Rue clearly drew inspiration from his older colleague, echoing Ockeghem's sober yet sonorous style. Both works were praised in their time, with Ockeghem's described as "exquise et très parfaicte" (exquisite and most perfect) and La Rue's as "die klangvollste Musik, die man hören konnte" (the most harmonious music you could ever hear). It is clear that these composers reserved their richest inspiration for the setting of a text that was so deep that few dared to stray from the purity of the Gregorian Chant version. By bringing these two works together, Cappella Pratensis offers not only the chance to hear the beginning of one of the great traditions in Western art-music, but also two profound musical translations of the words of consolation that mark the passing of our fellow travellers in life.
Betoverende muziek uit de late middeleeuwen
In deze uitvoering voert het ensemble Cappella Pratensis ons terug naar het ontstaan van de dodenmis, het requiem. De requims van Johannes Ockeghem (c. 1410-1497) en Pierre de la Rue (c. 1452-1518) vormen een ideale combinatie. Vooral ook omdat het hier gaat om de eerste meerstemmige (polyfone) dodenmissen van twee vooraanstaande meesters uit de Franco-Vlaamse school. Door het bijeenbrengen van deze werken biedt Cappella Pratensis de gelegenheid, om het begin van een van de grootste tradities in de Westerse kunst-muziek mee te beleven. Én de kans om de woorden van troost in een onvergelijkbaar gelukte muzikale vertaling op ons te laten inwerken. "In de Missa Cum Jocunditate trekken de zangers met ontspannen kelen, fraaie zuilen van geluid op." De Volkskrant, september 2016.

Johannes Ockeghem stond bekend als een technisch zeer knap vakman. Sommigen beweren dat hij zelf een lage zangstem had, wat zou blijken uit zijn koorwerken, waarin contratenor en bas een voor die tijd opvallende laagte hadden. De la Rue werd duidelijk geïnspireerd door zijn oudere collega Ockeghem, aangezien hij diens sobere, maar toch sonore stijl nadeed. Beider Requiem werd in hun tijd alom geprezen. De versie van Ockeghem werd omschreven als 'exquise en erg perfect' en die van De la Rue als 'de meest klankrijke muziek die er bestaat'. Duidelijk is zeker, dat deze componisten een inspirerende topprestatie leverden bij het optekenen van de tekst. Deze tekst voelde zo diep, dat weinigen het waagden om van de pure schoonheid van het Gregoriaanse gezang af te wijken.

Cappella Pratensis, opgericht in 1987, zingt vooral de muziek uit de periode tussen 1450 en 1600. Toonaangevende muziek van Franco-Vlaamse polyfonisten als Pierre de La Rue en Johannes Ockeghem. De groep combineert een historische uitvoeringspraktijk met originele programma’s en verrassende interpretaties, gebaseerd op wetenschappelijk onderzoek en artistiek inzicht. Zanger en dirigent Stratton Bull is artistiek leider van het ensemble.

Die ersten polyphonen Reqiem-Vertonungen

Für seine dritte CD bei Challenge Classics geht Cappella Pratensis ganz zu den Anfängen der Tradition der Totenmesse zurück. Die Requiems von Johannes Ockeghem (c. 1410-1497) und Pierre de la Rue (c. 1452-1518) bilden eine ideale Paarung, da es sich hier um die ersten polyphonen Totenmessen von zwei hervorragenden Meistern der Franco-Flämischen Schule handelt.

Somit bietet Cappella Pratensis die Chance, den Anfang einer der großen Traditionen in der westlichen Kunstmusik mitzuerleben und die Worte der Tröstung in einer unvergleichlich gelungenen musikalischen Umsetzung auf uns wirken zu lassen.

Artist(s)

Cappella Pratensis

The vocal ensemble Cappella Pratensis is a leader in the performance of polyphonic masterpieces from the 15th and 16th centuries, with a particular focus on the Low Countries. The group goes straight to the source, performing from facsimiles of original partbooks or choirbooks, the latter placed on a central music stand or projected on a large screen. Its programmes are intensively prepared and based on thorough musicological research, often in collaboration with leading scholars. Cappella Pratensis also enjoys a formal partnership with the Alamire Foundation, International Centre for the Study of Music in the Low Countries (University of Leuven). This multi-faceted approach results in a deep engagement with the music, in performances that get to the heart of this extraordinary repertoire....
more
The vocal ensemble Cappella Pratensis is a leader in the performance of polyphonic masterpieces from the 15th and 16th centuries, with a particular focus on the Low Countries. The group goes straight to the source, performing from facsimiles of original partbooks or choirbooks, the latter placed on a central music stand or projected on a large screen. Its programmes are intensively prepared and based on thorough musicological research, often in collaboration with leading scholars. Cappella Pratensis also enjoys a formal partnership with the Alamire Foundation, International Centre for the Study of Music in the Low Countries (University of Leuven). This multi-faceted approach results in a deep engagement with the music, in performances that get to the heart of this extraordinary repertoire. Cappella Pratensis also appears in surprising new contexts, regularly collaborating with dance companies, jazz artists, theatre makers, and composers.
In addition to regular appearances at concert venues in the Netherlands and Belgium, Cappella Pratensis performs at leading international festivals and concert series throughout Europe, North America and Japan. The group has been ensemble-in-residence at Harvard University, the Fondation Royaumont (France), and Boston University, giving courses, presenting concerts and working with distinguished musicians. Its CD recordings have met with critical acclaim and distinctions from the press (including the Diapason d’Or and the Prix Choc). Gramophone magazine recognised the ensemble’s recording of the Ockeghem Requiem as the best out of more than 20 recordings made over the last 40 years.
Cappella Pratensis makes a priority of passing on its knowledge to both professionals and amateurs through masterclasses, workshops, multimedia presentations, and an annual summer course. In addition, it trains young singers within the ensemble itself.

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Christopher Kale

Christopher Kale, tenor, was born in Pennsylvania, USA. He graduated from Boston University with a Bachelors and a Masters degree (cum laude). He then won an international scholarship for study in Amsterdam with Max van Egmond. Christopher Kale is mainly active in the renaissance and medieval repertoire as a member of Cappella Pratensis, Huelgas Ensemble, Capilla Flamenca, Aventure, the Boston Camerata, and the Nederlands Kamerkoor. As a soloist, he has made many commercial CD recordings of, among others, the Messiah (Händel), Lamentations (Gilles), Vespers (Monteverdi), and many Renaissance masses and motets, Medieval songs, and Early American music. Christopher Kale has been heard as a soloist in old music festivals worldwide, such as in Utrecht, Boston, Ghent, Bruges, York, Victoria, Cuenca,...
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Christopher Kale, tenor, was born in Pennsylvania, USA. He graduated from Boston University with a Bachelors and a Masters degree (cum laude). He then won an international scholarship for study in Amsterdam with Max van Egmond. Christopher Kale is mainly active in the renaissance and medieval repertoire as a member of Cappella Pratensis, Huelgas Ensemble, Capilla Flamenca, Aventure, the Boston Camerata, and the Nederlands Kamerkoor. As a soloist, he has made many commercial CD recordings of, among others, the Messiah (Händel), Lamentations (Gilles), Vespers (Monteverdi), and many Renaissance masses and motets, Medieval songs, and Early American music. Christopher Kale has been heard as a soloist in old music festivals worldwide, such as in Utrecht, Boston, Ghent, Bruges, York, Victoria, Cuenca, Saintes, and Kostenevica. His trips to the Romantic repertoire are usually as a member of a duo with Jelma van Amersfoort.

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Olivier Berten

After studying communication and multimedia, Olivier Berten enters the Royal Conservatoire in Brussels where he gets a diploma in opera-singing with Marcel Vanaud. He is going to advanced studies in the conservatories of Amsterdam, Metz and Brussels with Udo Reinemann and other masters of Lied. He was in 2004-2005 part ofOperastudio Vlaanderen in Ghent.  He makes his debut in the Monnaie opera house as Brühlmann ('Werther' van Massenet) under the baton of Kazushi Ono. In 2008, he was on the stage of the Flemish Opera in the leading role of Villa Vivaldi by Wouter van Looy en Jan Van Outryve. Upcoming projects include 'L'enfant et les sortilèges' with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège and 'Ne criez pas au loup' in the Opéra Royal de Wallonie.
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After studying communication and multimedia, Olivier Berten enters the Royal Conservatoire in Brussels where he gets a diploma in opera-singing with Marcel Vanaud. He is going to advanced studies in the conservatories of Amsterdam, Metz and Brussels with Udo Reinemann and other masters of Lied. He was in 2004-2005 part ofOperastudio Vlaanderen in Ghent. He makes his debut in the Monnaie opera house as Brühlmann ("Werther" van Massenet) under the baton of Kazushi Ono. In 2008, he was on the stage of the Flemish Opera in the leading role of Villa Vivaldi by Wouter van Looy en Jan Van Outryve. Upcoming projects include "L'enfant et les sortilèges" with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège and "Ne criez pas au loup" in the Opéra Royal de Wallonie.

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Composer(s)

Pierre de La Rue

Pierre de la Rue was a true Belgian: born in Tournai, he worked the first decades of his life in Brussels, Ghent and 's-Hertogenbosch, and spent his final years in Kortrijk. All the while, he only ever took one position as a composer, at the Flemish Chapel of the Burgundian court. There, he developed himself into a prolific composers, who wrote a large number of missas, motets and chansons. In these works, he shows his virtuosity particularly in the use of complex counterpoint. He wrote, for example, complete four-voiced missas based on a single melody.  De la Rue was also one of the first to compose polyphonic Requiems as a unique cycle of compositions in different keys based on the magnificat. Strangely,...
more

Pierre de la Rue was a true Belgian: born in Tournai, he worked the first decades of his life in Brussels, Ghent and 's-Hertogenbosch, and spent his final years in Kortrijk. All the while, he only ever took one position as a composer, at the Flemish Chapel of the Burgundian court. There, he developed himself into a prolific composers, who wrote a large number of missas, motets and chansons. In these works, he shows his virtuosity particularly in the use of complex counterpoint. He wrote, for example, complete four-voiced missas based on a single melody.

De la Rue was also one of the first to compose polyphonic Requiems as a unique cycle of compositions in different keys based on the magnificat. Strangely, Pierre de la Rue's music is generally less known than the music by Josquin and his other contemporaries, yet there are just as many gems to discover in his body of work!


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Johannes Ockeghem

When his ex-student Josquin Desprez wrote his Nymphes des bois, a moving and impressive work to lament the death of his master, Ockeghem reputation as one of the greatest composers of the 15th century was truly established. And Josquin wasn't the only one who praised him. Many poets and musicians regarded him as a genius, both as a composer and as a musician. Nowadays, his music is mostly described as relatively inaccesible, because often it is one single polyphonic stream without pauses for breaths. Yet, this particular aspect of his music is also what makes it so exciting and focused. Ockeghem's music might not always be easy on the ears, but its structure is incredibly refined with a soft sound. This is especially...
more
When his ex-student Josquin Desprez wrote his Nymphes des bois, a moving and impressive work to lament the death of his master, Ockeghem reputation as one of the greatest composers of the 15th century was truly established. And Josquin wasn't the only one who praised him. Many poets and musicians regarded him as a genius, both as a composer and as a musician. Nowadays, his music is mostly described as relatively inaccesible, because often it is one single polyphonic stream without pauses for breaths. Yet, this particular aspect of his music is also what makes it so exciting and focused.
Ockeghem's music might not always be easy on the ears, but its structure is incredibly refined with a soft sound. This is especially the case in his missas, with his melancholic Missa Mi-Mi as the pinnacle. Other highlights are his Missa prolationum and his Requiem (the first polyphonic requiem in the history of music!). Ockeghem also wrote several motets and about twenty chansons.
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Press

"In the Missa Cum Jocunditate the singers create dazzling columns of sound with relaxed voices."
De Volkskrant, 15-9-2016

Their exemplary performance, recorded superby in knock-out Hybrid SACD High Definition Surround Sound, are deeply embedded in both music and text - exquisite stuff.
Choir & Organ, 01-7-2012

Serious scholarship and a commitment to performing from a central music stand with a score in the original mensural notation combined creatively with mellifluous singing.
Early Music Today, 01-6-2012

the sweeping unbarred nature of their singing is impressive and compelling
Early Music Review, 01-4-2012

studied, beautifully shaped and blended performances
Sunday Times UK, 01-4-2012

Play album

Videos

Cappella Pratensis - Kyrie

Often bought together with..

The Four Seasons
Jaap van Zweden
Visions of Joy | The Chapel of Hieronymus Bosch
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Gran Partita
Quatuor Dialogues / Ewald Demeyere
Missa Ave maris stella
Cappella Pratensis / Stratton Bull
Vivat Leo! Music for a Medici Pope
Cappella Pratensis & Joshua Rifkin
Missa De Sancto Donatiano (bruges 1487)
Cappella Pratensis

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