de Lassus Laudate Dominim

The Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge, an exclusive Chandos artist, here presents its third release on the label. Established in the 1670s, the choir has a long and distinguished tradition of performing religious music and here offers distinguished interpretations of sacred works by Orlande de Lassus. Of its most recent release, Hear My Words: Choral Classics from St John’s (CHSA5085), The Telegraph wrote: ‘The boy treble voices bring lustre and freshness to the sonority and the singing throughout is stirring and polished.’

The movement to record Renaissance music in ways that illustrate its context has mostly bypassed Orlande de Lassus up to now. This is partly because his vast output is hard to get a grip on. Lassus was arguably music's first international star, and he was capable of bringing to his employers (mostly the Duke of Bavaria, already something of a cultural crossroads in the late sixteenth century) music from all around the continent.

L assus' profane werken, vooral de Franse chansons en de Duitse liederen zijn vaak doordrongen van een aanstekelijke levensvreugde, met voor die tijd vanzelfsprekende, en doorgaans onschuldige, zij het soms expliciete allusies op de lichamelijke liefde. Ook de wijn vloeit op geregelde tijdstippen. Maar zelfs platvloerse en volkse teksten, waarvan het poetisch gehalte vaak bedenkelijk was, weet Lassus om te toveren tot muzikale pareltjes. Verfijnde poezie, zoals gedichten van Pierre de Ronsard, inspireerden hem uiteraard nog meer tot het schrijven van meesterlijke miniaturen, die de tand des tijds probleemloos hebben doorstaan. Zo slaagt hij er in Bonjour mon coeur, een bijzonder verfijnd liefdesgedicht van de Ronsard, muzikaal te vertalen in een al even betoverend equivalent.

The Cantiones Sacrae are the swan-song of one of the great masters of the motet, crowning his life's work. In them, Orlande de Lassus deploys with sovereign ease the essence of his art. The complex technique of vocal polyphony he employs illuminates the nuances of the text as closely as possible. In these works, we have the ideal balance between 'head' and 'heart' - a feature found in most of the greatest artistic masterpieces. Philippe Herreweghe has long been considered one of the foremost interpreters of the music of Lassus. Here he leads his hand-picked choral ensemble, Concerto Vocale, in definitive readings of these seminal works of the Renaissance choral repertoire.

Orlande de Lassus was an undisputed master of all the vocal genres of the late Renaissance, from German Lied to Latin Mass. He was extraordinarily prolific, and this recording features the glorious polyphony of the Missa Amor ecco colei and Prophetiae Sibyllarum, one of his most celebrated works. With the latter’s extreme chromaticism and constant modulation, Lassus stretched the compositional boundaries of the time to produce one of the most important and advanced works to come from the sixteenth century.

Roland de Lassus (1532-1594) - Canticum Canticorum - Choeur de Chambre de Namur, Leonardo García Alarcón, Ensemble Clematis (2016) {Ricercar Official Digital Download}
FLAC (tracks) - 44kHz/16 bit - Official Digital Download (qobuz.com) -> 281 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 157 Mb | Artwork (pdf+jpg) | 5% repair rar
© 2016 Ricercar / Outhere Music | RIC 370
Classical / Renaissance / Choral / Sacred Vocal Music

At the height of the Renaissance, the music of Orlande de Lassus frequently combines the emotion of secular music with sacred compositions. With their erotic connotations, the texts of The Song of Songs are an ideal source for bringing together sacred and profane feelings. Based on his most famous song, Lassus wrote one of his unitary masses: Suzanne un jour. Along with the Magnificat that he composed on De Rore’s madrigal Ancor che col partire, here are two religious compositions of which the themes are borrowed from evocations of amorous turmoil.

Cappella Amsterdam does not just sing music that charms and captivates, but does this at the highest possible level. For its performances, the choir has received many prizes and a stream of positive reviews. Cappella Amsterdam offers the classical choir repertoire in all its glory and dedicates itself, every single year, to bring to you the most beautiful and important choral pieces, both old and new. Daniel Reuss is the artistic director of Cappella Amsterdam. Under his guidance the choir has professionalised and risen to international fame.