Magnificat, Philip Cave Lassus: The Alchemist, Vol. 1

Under the direction of Philip Cave, Magnificat embarks on a three-volume journey exploring the ingenuity of Orlandus Lassus. In this rich collection of Magnificats based on polyphonic models, Lassus - 'The Alchemist' - demonstrates an unsurpassed ability to reimagine existing material in the creation of his own works. This first volume of the series presents Lassus's Magnificats based on madrigals, featuring models by Philippe Verdelot, Cipriano de Rore, and Alessandro Striggio among others. The second album will comprise Lassus's canticles based on motets, and the third will conclude with those inspired by chansons. In celebrating Lassus as 'The Alchemist', Magnificat reveals the creative process and skill he employed in re-working the original music and illuminates a significant repertory that is underrepresented in contemporary liturgical or concert settings.

On this, the second volume of Magnificat’s three-part project ‘Lassus: The Alchemist’, the ensemble explores the composer’s Magnificats based on motets. It is remarkable that, of Lassus’s thirty-five Magnificats based on polyphonic models, only eight draw musical inspiration from motets. But if these Magnificats are relatively few in number, their musical quality and impact are outsized. Whether in Praeter rerum seriem, where he expands Josquin’s motet into a formidable 250-bar Magnificat, or Aurora lucis rutilat, where he transforms his own Eastertide motet into a jubilant musical celebration, these works exemplify some of Lassus’s finest compositional achievements. Inspired by the lavish musical resources of the ducal chapel in Munich, where Lassus worked from 1557 until his death in 1594, this album brings together voices and instruments in diverse combinations, enhancing the richness and variety of the scoring.