JOSQUIN. Messes Fortuna desperata & Une musque de Biscaye
Biscantor ! & Métamorphoses, Juliette de Massy
[15.10.2018]
Ar Ré-Sé AR 2018-1
http://www.homme-arme-editions.fr/josquin-et-lespagne-sortie-le-15-octobre
[66:58]
Fortuna desperata [33:14]
1. Kyrie [3:16]
2. Gloria [6:35]
3. Credo [7:47]
4. Sanctus [9:23]
5. Agnus Dei [5:57]
Une musque de Biscaye [33:38]
6. Kyrie [3:31]
7. Gloria [6:19]
8. Credo [8:49]
9. Sanctus [9:40]
10. Agnus Dei [4:51]
De
https://www.challengerecords.com/products/15338879131770:
In 2006 Maurice Bourbon and La Chapelle de Flandres decided to remedy a
significant gap by recording the complete masses of Josquin Desprez,
Josquin l’Européen, thereby honouring this emblematic
figure in the history of music.
The Fortuna desperata and Une musque de Biscaye masses are included in
this seventh volume of the complete masses, entitled “Josquin and
Spain”. These considerable works, each more than 33 minutes long,
are masterfully written, and were clearly composed at the height of
Josquin’s powers.
Maurice Bourbon took part in analysing and executing the works, as he
has done since the project’s inception, but chose for this
recording to hand the job of conducting the choirs over to the young
Juliette de Massy, who led Biscantor! (6 young singers including an
alto, an haute-contre, three tenors, and a bass) and
Métamorphoses (3 confirmed singers: a soprano, a countertenor,
and a bass).
These combined forces enabled the performers to recreate a variety of
tessitura, to bring out certain themes, and to ensure that breathing
would not interrupt long notes. The Missa Fortuna desperata is based on
the 3-voice song of the same name, and is attributed to Antoine
Busnois, one of Josquin’s contemporaries.
Josquin shows his compositional prowess in this work, playing with the
three voices of the song, using them one after another as a Cantus
firmus (a melodic subject). Long note values are often used for these
voices, which act as a veritable framework for the work. What a
masterful Credo! What a magnificent Agnus Dei!! The skill involved in
writing them and the splendid results are similar to those of the Missa
l’Homme armé Sexti toni (see Josquin and Rome 1, the third
volume of the complete masses).
Like a great geometrist, Josquin amused himself by varying note lengths
and metric relationships between the voices, and by inventing
symmetries (in terms of time, in retrograde motion, or for just an
instant, as related to a single note).The fruitful, lyrical themes of
the song bring compelling vigour and magnificent lyricism to the work.
Along with recreating Josquin’s geometrical interplay, in certain
movements Juliette de Massy also brings out a stretching out or
suspension of time, which reinforces the spiritual and aesthetic
qualities of the work.
The Missa Une musque de Biscaye is based on an anonymous popular song
of the same name; its title refers to a young lady from the Basque
Country. The song’s themes are used in the Superius and Tenor
parts, as well as in the Cantus firmus, where they are heard in long
note values and are sometimes sung retrograde, like in the Credo.
Josquin must have been charmed by the song’s melodic and rhythmic
potential, and the way his bubbling sense of invention could transform
it. Maurice Bourbon and Juliette de Massy felt from the outset that the
song’s light-hearted quality gave the mass a lively and almost
playful character. While this is certainly true in some passages,
others are striking for their power and lyricism. In this recording
Juliette de Massy highlights the superb vocal lines, enhanced by a sort
of fantasy springing both from the song itself and from the variations
and diminutions Josquin penned.
[15.10.2018]