Clamantis

"Sacrum Convivium" presents a vision of French music over two millennia: from Gregorian chant through Guillaume de Machaut’s extraordinary ‘Lai de Nostre Dame’ to the Twentieth Century of Maurice Duruflé, Francis Poulenc and Olivier Messiaen, all three of them influenced in some way by the spirituality and sensibility of Gregorian chant, which Messiaen himself described as “the greatest treasure we possess in western music.”

Pärt is one of the few composers to whom the term "new simplicity"- in itself absurd, and used both mistakenly and misleadingly - really applies. After a thorough study of medieval music, he arrived at a personal style which uses the minimum means to achieve a high degree of intensity. In view of the similarity to the structure of bell sounds, Pärt calls it "tintinnabuli style". By means of almost purely tonal structures - frequently broken triads and scales - Pärt creates an inner balance of form and harmony which can be understood in terms of his deep religious faith and inclination to mysticism.

Recorded in churches in Tallinn as well as the Estonian Concert Hall, the five compositions heard on “Arboles lloran por lluvia” (Trees cry for rain) give deeper insight into the unique sound-world of Helena Tulve, into music which is nourished by both contemporary and ancient currents. Tulve draws upon a wide-range of inspirational sources.

During the years before and after 1600, Portugal produced a small crop of masterful Requiem Masses. All of them seem to have taken Victoria's famous six-voice Requiem as a model, setting the traditional chant melodies in long notes in one of the soprano parts, accompanied by harmonious chords rather than imitative counterpoint. The Requiem by Duarte Lôbo presented here is a particularly good example. Like his compatriots, Lôbo composed his Requiem in a major tonality; Victoria's captivating gloom is replaced by an equally captivating sweetness–this funeral music is anything but morose. The Missa vox clamantis is altogether more extroverted, with a striking octave leap that begins every movement. Peter Phillips and the Tallis Scholars give the skillful, sonorous performances we've come to expect from them.

Early in 1870, a codex containing early Spanish vocal music had been discovered in the library of the Palacio Real in Madrid.