Guerrero: Ecce sacerdos magnus

by Brabant Ensemble, Stephen Rice

Overview

Of the leading Renaissance music vocal groups, the Brabant Ensemble may lean most in the direction of reviving obscure material, and so it is here. The group offers a mass and a group of motets by Francisco Guerrero, and all the works have been sung from manuscripts (some of them microfilmed, a term not often heard these days) and apparently appearing on recordings for the first time. Guerrero spent his whole life in Spain except for one ill-fated attempt to visit the Holy Land (his ship was waylaid by pirates), and he has been proposed as the most "Spanish" of the great 16th century composers from that country. From these works, that is hard to hear; the music offers limpid, melodically smooth settings with judicious handling of dissonance with little of the dark coloration of Victoria. Although he lived in Spain, Guerrero's music was published in Rome and other Italian cities, where he must have been heard as a foreigner who had mastered the lessons of Palestrina. Some of the motets have an immensely appealing simplicity that masks the art of the counterpoint; sample O crux splendidior. The mass, incorporating plainchant in a variety of ways, is more intricate but equally beautiful; sample the perfectly measured Incarnatus or the first Agnus Dei. The Brabant Ensemble is a mixed-gender group of the right size, with 12 or fewer performers; there might possibly be purer-sounding groups, but these are entirely adequate to the task at hand, which is to introduce some gorgeous unknown music. Hyperion's sound, from the All Saints' Church, East Finchley, London, is superb, and the graphics, showing a detail from a painting of Saint Thomas of Villanova, are noteworthy. A major Renaissance release of 2023. ~ James Manheim

Product Details

Release Date:	11/03/2023
Label:	Hyperion
UPC:	0034571284088
Rank:	6334

Tracks

1. Gaude Barbara~Gaude Barbara
2. Gaude Barbara~Te laudantem familiam
3. Quomodo cantabimus canticum Domini?
4. Simile est regnum caelorum
5. O crux splendidior
6. Ductus est Jesus~Ductus est Jesus
7. Ductus est Jesus~Si Filius Dei es
8. Missa Ecce sacerdos magnus~Kyrie I / Ecce sacerdos magnus
9. Missa Ecce sacerdos magnus~Christe
10. Missa Ecce sacerdos magnus~Kyrie II / Ecce sacerdos magnus
11. Missa Ecce sacerdos magnus~Gloria
12. Missa Ecce sacerdos magnus~Qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere
13. Missa Ecce sacerdos magnus~Credo
14. Missa Ecce sacerdos magnus~Crucifixus
15. Missa Ecce sacerdos magnus~Et in Spiritum Sanctum
16. Missa Ecce sacerdos magnus~Sanctus / Ecce Sacerdos magnus
17. Missa Ecce sacerdos magnus~Osanna I
18. Missa Ecce sacerdos magnus~Benedictus
19. Missa Ecce sacerdos magnus~Osanna II
20. Missa Ecce sacerdos magnus~Agnus Dei I / Ecce sacerdos magnus
21. Missa Ecce sacerdos magnus~Agnus Dei II / Ecce sacerdos magnus
22. Peccantem me quotidie
23. Beatus es et bene tibi erit
24. Quae est ista tam formosa?~Quae est ista?
25. Quae est ista tam formosa?~Surge propera
26. Magnificat secundi toni~Magnificat anima mea - Et exsultavit
27. Magnificat secundi toni~Quia respexit - Quia fecit
28. Magnificat secundi toni~Et misericordia eius - Fecit potentiam
29. Magnificat secundi toni~Deposuit potentes - Esurientes implevit
30. Magnificat secundi toni~Suscepit Israel - Sicut locutus est
31. Magnificat secundi toni~Gloria Patri - Sicut erat in principio

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Brabant Ensemble   Primary Artist,Vocal Ensemble
Stephen Rice   Primary Artist,Conductor
Thomas Chapman   Tenor (Vocal)
Helen Ashby   Soprano (Vocal)
Toby Ward   Tenor (Vocal)

Technical Credits

Francisco Guerrero   Composer
Jeremy Summerly   Recording Producer
Todd Harris   Booklet Editor
Stephen Rice   Liner Notes,Editing
Simon Perry   Executive Producer
Nick Flower   Executive Producer
David Hinitt   Engineer
Giuseppe Franchi   Cover Illustration