Cheap Ockeghem: Missa de plus en plus; 5 Motets (Music) (Edward Wickham, Jonathan Arnold, Jacques Barbireau, Gilles de Bins dit Binchois, Johannes Ockeghem, Matthaeus Pipelare, The Clerks' Group, Carys-Anne Lane, Emma Brain-Gabbott, Rebecca Outram) Price

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Customer Reviews of Ockeghem: Missa de plus en plus; 5 Motets

Beautiful sacred music, brilliantly performed
Anyone intrigued by sacred vocal music of the early Renaissance - particularly the works of Guillaume Dufay (c. 1397-1474) and Josquin Desprez (c. 1450-1521) - would do well to explore this CD. Though not as well-known today as Dufay and Josquin, Johannes Ockeghem (c. 1410-1497) represented an essential stylistic link between those two composers. He extended imitative phrases beyond the short phrases employed by Dufay, but was almost too clever in doing so: Ockeghem integrated canons so well into his polyphony that they escaped listeners' ears. Josquin's works brought imitation to the fore, thereby capturing most of the credit for the technique known as "pervasive imitation." Josquin himself acknowledged Ockeghem's importance, commemorating his predecessor in the lament "La déploration de Jehan Ockegham." <
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>The Clerks' Group endeavors to restore Ockeghem's reputation through their series of Ockeghem discs. This CD presents not only Ockeghem's "Missa de plus en plus," but also five motets by Ockeghem and other composers of the period. Works by Matthaeus Pipelare and Jacques Barbireau are performed, as well as "Plus en plus," the motet by Gilles Binchois (a contemporary of Dufay) on which Ockeghem based his Mass. <
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>Dufay pioneered the technique of basing the Mass Ordinary on a pre-existing tenor (or "cantus firmus") from a secular source (as opposed to a Church-approved plainsong chant) with his "Missa se la face ay pale." The "cantus firmus" Mass dominated mid-15th century sacred music; and thus strongly influenced Ockeghem's works. Ockeghem also masters Dufay's technique of alternating different pairs of voices with full 4-part polyphony, to achieve contrasting textures. Ockeghem's music comes across as a gentler, smoother interpretation of Dufay's style, with the downward expansion of the lowest (bassus) voice representing Ockeghem's most readily apparent innovation. <
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>The Clerks' Group performances excel, as do the production values. This is beautiful sacred music, brilliantly performed. I don't find "Missa de plus en plus" quite as impressive as Ockeghem's tour de force, "Missa Prolationum," but it's a remarkable achievement nonetheless. <
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>The liner notes lament that modern critics "worship and canonise (Josquin) only by virtue of (their) total neglect of (Ockeghem)." If the rest of the Clerks' Group's Ockeghem series is as impressive as "Missa de plus en plus; 5 Motets," they will have gone a long way to right this perceived wrong.

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Idiomatic
The Clerks' Group have earned their place in the early music hall of fame chiefly for their recordings of Ockeghem. No other group have been as consistently compelling in this repertory. Unlike the more conventional choirs, the Clerks' Group pay a lot of attention to the local flavor of polyphonic music. When it comes to performing Ockeghem, whose stylistic writing includes many local conventions, the ability to render local details accurately makes the difference between revelatory and mediocre. This disc is a special delight because of the beauty and relative accessibility of Missa De Plus en Plus, which forms the bulk of this recording. De Plus en Plus was one of Ockeghem's earlier masses. It alternates two- and four-part sections, achieving an almost hypnotic tide-like effect. The original De Plus en Plus tune is included for comparison (the tenor line from the original tune became the cantus firmus for the Mass). Of the fillers, Matthaeus Pipelare's Salve Regina is a gem. The final motet, Gaude Maria, is probably not by Ockeghem, but it is worthy to appear alongside the known Ockeghem's works. The group's singing is well-nigh flawless throughout. -- gggimpy@yahoo.com