La Grande Chapelle - Jose de Nebra: Responsorios de Navidad - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

The Officium defunctorum by Tomás Luis de Victoria, published in 1605, is one of the masterworks of the musical Renaissance, which still moves us with it's austerity and expressive power. It was written Inchin the style of a swansongInch for the funeral rites of the composer's patroness, the empress Maria of Austria, sister of Philip II and widow of the emperor Maximilian II. For the first time in a recording, La Grande Chapelle and Schola Antiqua place the work in it's liturgical context, restoring the two original days the vigil for the dead and the mass which concludes with the rite of absolution. The funeral rites celebrated in Madrid in 1603 are evoked, by means of respecting the original performing forces, the inclusion of the lection, the responsories and the psalms written by Victoria himself, and the use of plainchant taken from sources of the period. This reading brings us closer in a new way to one of the most important dynastic ceremonies of the Spanish Habsburgs of the beginning of the 17th century.

Situated on the very western edge of Europe, Santiago de Compostela has been a spiritual and artistic center since the Middle Ages. In the seventeenth century, it's cathedral enjoyed a golden age that led to the transformation of it's Romanesque structure into a Baroque landmark. There, a polychoral style was abundantly cultivated, giving both solemnity and grandeur to religious ceremonies. Among the maestros that served the Compostela cathedral, José de Baquedano stands out. A Navarran composer who perfected his artform with Matías Ruiz at the Royal Monastery of the Incarnation in Madrid, he left a notable vocal legacy in Spanish and Latin after three decades of practice. Therein, his pieces written for Holy Week are especially remarkable. This recording offers a novel anthology of Baquedano's Latin work, with a selection of motets, psalms and lamentations written for two and three choirs, revealing the magnificent talent of this composer from Finisterre.

La Grande Chapelle - Song of the Soul [COMPACT DISCS] date 10/09/2012