Ezekiel's Eagle - A Renaissance Brotherhood celebrates St John the Evangelist - The Den Bosch Choirbooks vol. 2 by Cappella Pratensis / Stratton Bull

Jean Mouton

Cappella Pratensis / Stratton Bull

Ezekiel's Eagle - A Renaissance Brotherhood celebrates St John the Evangelist - The Den Bosch Choirbooks vol. 2

Price: € 20.95
Format: SACD
Label: Challenge Classics
UPC: 0608917287820
Catnr: CC 72878
Release date: 14 May 2021
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Label
Challenge Classics

UPC
0608917287820

Catalogue number
CC 72878

Release date
14 May 2021

""What actually transpires through the course of listening is that this series is arguably something far more special than a catalogue raisonné of the choirbooks' contents, and perhaps equally monumental." "Listeners who have seen the Cappella Pratensis perform in person or online will be aware that improvised polyphony is not the only aspect of historically informed performance in which they are currently leaders in the field." "Throughout the first three volumes of this series the quality of performance, interpretation and recording is superb, but the fourth instalment is certainly its crowning glory." "As a whole, the series to date is a masterclass in how scholarly study can be used to craft exciting and exuberant programmes.""

Early Music, 10-9-2024

Album

Artist(s)

Composer(s)

Press

About the album

At the dawn of the Renaissance the southern Dutch city of ’s-Hertogenbosch, with its abundance of churches and monasteries, was also referred to as “Little Rome”. Central to this religious scene was the Brotherhood of Our Illustrious Lady (Illustre Lieve Vrouwe Broederschap), founded in 1318. This devotional organization, which counted among its members the famous painter Hieronymus Bosch, invested considerably in recruiting and employing the best singers and organists for its chapel, which performed a wide variety of polyphonic music. No fewer than nine choirbooks with this repertoire are still preserved by the confraternity. After centuries of silence, this magnificent collection is finally sounding once again. With the five-year project The Den Bosch Choirbooks (2020-24), Cappella Pratensis, itself based in ’s-Hertogenbosch, is giving these manuscripts the attention they deserve. The project includes numerous concerts, workshops, publications, lectures and a series of five CDs. This recording thus invites listeners to imagine themselves among the confraternity members gathered in their chapel in the church of St John the Evangelist in ’s-Hertogenbosch on a sunny spring day. It is May 6, the great feast of St John Before the Latin Gate that commemorates the attempted martyrdom of the Evangelist in 92 AD.

Binnen het vijfjarenproject De Bossche Koorboeken brengt Cappella Pratensis een wonderschoon tweede album uit. Na het album met het polyfone meesterwerk Missa cum Jocunditate, vooral een eerbetoon aan Jheronimus Bosch, staat het nieuwe album in het teken van Jean Mouton’s Missa Tua est potentia. Het werk werd gecomponeerd in de eerste jaren van de 16e eeuw. De opname 'Ezekiel's Eagle' bevat muziek uit twee koorboeken, voor kenners MS 152 en 155.

Aan het begin van de Renaissance werd ’s-Hertogenbosch, met zijn overvloed aan kerken en kloosters, ook wel 'Klein Rome' genoemd. Centraal stond de Illustre Lieve Vrouwe Broederschap, opgericht in 1318. 'Illustre' betekent hier ‘beroemd’ en heeft betrekking op De Zoete Lieve Vrouw van Den Bosch of Zoete Moeder, één van de genadebeelden van de Heilige maagd Maria die in Nederland het middelpunt vormen van een bedevaart. Deze devote Broederschap waar onder anderen de beroemde schilder Jheronimus Bosch lid van was, nam de beste zangers en organisten in dienst die polyfone muziek uitvoerden.

De Broederschap bezit een collectie ongeschonden koorboeken uit de periode 1450-1600, waarvan negen met prachtige meerstemmige (polyfone) muziek. Samen belichamen ze de culturele bloeiperiode van het hertogdom Brabant, ook wel de Brabantse Gouden Eeuw genoemd. De boeken zijn gemaakt in opdracht van de Broederschap en bevatten werk van, in die tijd, bekende componisten als Jean Mouton en Pierre de la Rue.

De broederschap gebruikte de boeken voor de liturgie, maar de muziek was verstomd. Cappella Pratensis brengt daar verandering in. Na eeuwen stilte klinkt deze magnifieke collectie eindelijk weer. Met het vijfjarige project De Bossche Koorboeken (2020-2024) geeft het ensemble deze manuscripten de aandacht die ze verdienen. Het project omvat tal van concerten, workshops, publicaties, lezingen en een serie van vijf cd's.

Cappella Pratensis is een vocaal ensemble dat zich specialiseert in de polyfone meesterwerken uit de 15e en 16e eeuw. Repertoire uit de Lage Landen vormt de hoofdmoot. Thuisbasis is de Lutherse Kerk in 's Hertogenbosch. Het ensemble voert eigen programma’s uit en originele interpretaties, gebaseerd op wetenschappelijk bronnenonderzoek. Zoals in de Renaissance gebruikelijk, staan de zangers van Cappella Pratensis vaak rond een centrale muziekstandaard. Het ensemble werd in 1987 opgericht en staat nu onder de artistieke leiding van zanger en dirigent Stratton Bull.

Zu Beginn der Renaissance wurde die südniederländische Stadt 's-Hertogenbosch mit ihrer Fülle an Kirchen und Klöstern auch als "Klein-Rom" bezeichnet. Im Mittelpunkt dieser religiösen Szene stand die 1318 gegründete Bruderschaft Unserer Erlauchten Frau (Illustre Lieve Vrouwe Broederschap). Diese fromme Organisation, zu deren Mitgliedern auch der berühmte Maler Hieronymus Bosch zählte, investierte viel in die Rekrutierung und Anstellung der besten Sänger und Organisten für ihre Kapelle, die ein breites Spektrum an mehrstimmiger Musik aufführte. Nicht weniger als neun Chorbücher mit diesem Repertoire sind noch in der Bruderschaft erhalten. Nach Jahrhunderten des Schweigens erklingt diese prachtvolle Sammlung endlich wieder. Mit dem auf fünf Jahre angelegten Projekt The Den Bosch Choirbooks (2020-24) schenkt die Cappella Pratensis, die selbst in 's-Hertogenbosch ansässig ist, diesen Manuskripten die Aufmerksamkeit, die sie verdienen. Das Projekt umfasst zahlreiche Konzerte, Workshops, Publikationen, Vorträge und eine Serie von fünf CDs. Die vorliegende Aufnahme lädt den Hörer ein, sich an einem sonnigen Frühlingstag unter die Mitglieder der Bruderschaft in ihrer Kapelle in der Kirche St. Johannes der Evangelist in 's-Hertogenbosch zu versetzen. Es ist der 6. Mai, das große Fest des heiligen Johannes vor der lateinischen Pforte, das an den versuchten Märtyrertod des Evangelisten im Jahr 92 n. Chr. erinnert.

Artist(s)

Cappella Pratensis

Cappella Pratensis specializes in the music of Josquin Desprez (= Josqinus Pratensis) and other polyphonic composers of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The ensemble performs its own programs and original interpretations, which are based on academic research. As was customary in the renaissance, the singers of Cappella Pratensis usually stand around a central music stand, singing from facsimiles of original choirbooks. This creates a unique perspective on the repertoire. The ensemble, founded in 1987, is now under the artistic direction of singer and conductor Stratton Bull. In addition to regular concerts in the Netherlands and Belgium, Cappella Pratensis performs in leading international festivals and venues in France, Portugal, Germany and the United States. The ensemble also has also released several CD...

In addition to regular concerts in the Netherlands and Belgium, Cappella Pratensis performs in leading international festivals and venues in France, Portugal, Germany and the United States. The ensemble also has also released several CD recordings which have been greeted with rave press reviews and awards, including the Diapason d’Or and the Prix Choc. From 2005 to 2007, Cappella Pratensis was ensemble-in-residence at the Fondation Royaumont (France), where it gave courses and concerts, and worked with several prominent musicians. In 2009, it released a DVD/CD production of the Missa de Sancto Donatiano by Jacob Obrecht, which contained a reconstruction of the first performance of this mass, filmed on location in Bruges, supplemented with extensive documentation. This production was awarded with a Diapason découverte and the highest rating in the professional magazine Classica.

The CD Vivat Leo! Music for a Medici Pope (2010), directed by guest conductor Joshua Rifkin, was awarded a Diapason d’Or. A successful series of concerts of the Requiem of Pierre de la Rue was led by guest conductor Bo Holten. A DVD of one of these concerts, performed as part of the event Jheronimus Bosch 500, was released in 2010 under the title Bosch Requiem.

In January 2012 a new CD, containing the earliest surviving polyphonic requiem masses in music history, those by Johannes Ockeghem and Pierre de la Rue. In February 2014 the ensemble released a CD containing music written for the feast of the Assumption and transmitted in choirbooks from the Vatican, including Josquin Desprez’s masterpiece Missa Ave maris stella. In late 2015, the ensemble recorded the Missa Cum Jocunditate by Pierre de la Rue.
In 2016, Cappella and the Nederlands Kamerkoor performed eight concerts of the world premiere of the Missa Unitatis, composed in 2008 by Anthony Pitts (* 1969) in a unique partnership with choirs in Antwerp, Breda, ’s-Hertogenbosch, Eindhoven, Tilburg and Helmond. It has also performed during the Early Music Festival in Utrecht, and presented five performances of the program Christmas with Josquin in the Season of Early Music.

Cappella Pratensis shares its vision and approach to vocal polyphony with professionals and amateurs in masterclasses, with multimedia presentations, and also in a week-long summer school that takes place annually during the festival Laus Polyphoniae in Antwerp. In a structural collaboration with the universities of Leuven and Oxford, the musical manuscripts of the workshop of Petrus Alamire are explored by musicologists and adapted for use by other musicians.

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Stratton Bull (conductor)

Andrew Hallock

Lior Leibovici (alto)

Peter de Laurentiis (tenor)

Pieter De Moor (tenor)

Korneel Van Neste (alto)

Marc Busnel (bass)

Máté Bruckner (bass)

Composer(s)

Jean Mouton

Press

"What actually transpires through the course of listening is that this series is arguably something far more special than a catalogue raisonné of the choirbooks' contents, and perhaps equally monumental." "Listeners who have seen the Cappella Pratensis perform in person or online will be aware that improvised polyphony is not the only aspect of historically informed performance in which they are currently leaders in the field." "Throughout the first three volumes of this series the quality of performance, interpretation and recording is superb, but the fourth instalment is certainly its crowning glory." "As a whole, the series to date is a masterclass in how scholarly study can be used to craft exciting and exuberant programmes."
Early Music, 10-9-2024

A sensational interpretation of Cappella Pratensis, both unclassifiable musicians for the significant of the current European music scene.
Sonogramo, 29-7-2022

This may well be the first recording of the Missa Tua est potentia by Mouton, but even if it has been recorded before, its performance as part of a liturgical framework makes this recording something no lover of renaissance polyphony should miss.
Music Web International, 10-2-2022

For anyone interested in Renaissance music this is a welcome acquisition. Listening to the liturgy unfold as it might have done in 16th century ‘s-Hertogensbosch is illuminating from a historical perspective, and the performances are first-rate.
Fanfare, 01-1-2022

The lush polyphony is performed festively and with great conviction.
De Volkskrant, 21-12-2021

There is no question of technical proficiency. Intonation and ensemble are flawless...
American Record Guide, 13-10-2021

He restores here with perfect transparency a counterpoint of exceptional density, which does not eschew dissonances (Kyrie), and the sometimes tortuous melodic designs.
Diapason, 01-10-2021

Cappella Pratensis’s homogeneity of timbre is impressive, especially in view of the many different registers in play. The cast is well matched from top to bottom in both the Mass and the motets. Taken as a whole, the latter make the more convincing impression (in the Gloria some of the choices of pitch may surprise), but the final sections of the Mass are the core of the experience, as they are in the liturgy. And the chant never plays second fiddle to the polyphony; the fact that it is rhythmicised is a further twist, which only adds to the project’s distinctiveness.
Gramophone, 15-7-2021

The balance is good, the can sound is pleasant and absolutely convincing.
Luister, 15-7-2021

Cappella Pratensis prove themselves to be an ensemble of exquisite skill, voices steeped in both artistry and personality, Jean Mouton’s music shaped and sung superbly.
Gramophone, 13-7-2021