Pierre de la Rue

For the upcoming 500th anniversary of the death of the great Franco-Flemish composer Pierre de la Rue (around 1460-1518), the vocal ensemble The Sound and the Fury, which specializes in early music, has recorded a selection of the composer’s artistic masses for the label FRA BERNARDO, which impressively reflect the high standard at the court of the music-loving and music-savvy Margaret of Austria. The Pierre de la Rue masses on this recording have one thing in common: they are all based on monadic models, thus in keeping with the most traditional of cyclic mass composition models, the cantus firmus mass.

Pierre de la Rue is another of those composers who contributed so prolifically to the richness of musical life in the Low Countries during the late fifteenth century. If today he is less well known than some of his contemporaries, the distinguished advocacy of Stephen Rice and The Brabant Ensemble should do much to redress the balance.

Beauty Farm is a 2014 founded vocal group focused on the Franco-Flemish polyphony of the renaissance. The international ensemble is based in the Carthusian Monastery at Mauerbach (Austria). The singers are members of well known ensembles like Capilla flamenca, Huelgas Ensemble, Vox Luminis, Collegium Vocale Gent and Graindelavoix. On this extensive release, the ever-acclaimed vocal quartet presents four masses of Pierre de la Rue, all composed during the composer's last creative period. Pierre de la Rue is one of the most fascinating and yet most elusive members of the talented generation of composers from around 1500. On the works recorded here he demonstrates his complete polyphonic skills and thus gives the melancholy an intellectual, complex nuance. The necessary lightness is provided by the voices of Bart Uvyn, Hans Jörg Mammel, Hannes Wagner and Joachim Höchbauer.

Pierre de la Rue wurde möglicherweise um 1452 in Doornik/Tournai im heutigen Belgien geboren. Dort arbeitete sein Vater Jehan als Illuminator (Buchmaler), seine Mutter, Gertrude de la Haye, stammte ebenfalls aus Tournai. Im 15. Jahrhundert waren dort beide Familiennamen geläufig. Wir nehmen an, dass Pierres Ausbildung, besonders als Musiker, mit einer Verbindung als Chorsänger an der berühmten Kathedrale der Stadt anfing. Als solcher bekam er dann, wie dort alle Chorsänger, die Tonsur. Wenn so, dann war das die erste entscheidende Situation seines Lebenslaufs, den er letztlich als Diaconus beschließen sollte. Zum Priester wurde de la Rue anscheinend nie geweiht.

From Ockeghem born around 1420 to Lassus dead in 1594 via Josquin des Prés, this 8-CD collection presents almost two centuries of masterworks from one of the most extraordinary musical school, that could be compared to the Italian Renaissance in architecture or painting. The Hilliard Ensemble, founded by Paul Hillier in 1974 has championed this music with all the virtues of their instantly recognizable style and with a clarity and cleanness of timbre that are matchless.

Jérôme Lejeune continues his History of Music series with this boxed set devoted to the Renaissance. The next volume in the series after Flemish Polyphony (RIC 102), this set explores the music of the 16th century from Josquin Desprez to Roland de Lassus. After all of the various turnings that music took during the Middle Ages, the music of the Renaissance seems to be a first step towards a common European musical style. Josquin Desprez’s example was followed by every composer in every part of Europe and in every musical genre, including the Mass setting, the motet and all of the various new types of solo song. Instrumental music was also to develop considerably from the beginning of the 16th century onwards.

The oeuvre of Johannes Ockeghem influenced a considerable number of musicians who were contemporaries with, or came immediately after, the Master of Tours. Many of these talented composers took one of his works as a model, thus bearing eloquent testimony to their admiration for him. All of them visited him and helped popularize his image as a benevolent father figure to this amazing caste of singers and composers. Ockeghem s death at a ripe old age in 1497 greatly affected the brilliant generation that was in the process of making the transition between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, and naturally led to the creation of some deeply moving music.

Johannes Ockeghem & Pierre de La Rue - Requiem - Diabolus in Musica & Antoine Guerber (2018) {Bayard Musique 308 475.2}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 310 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 161 Mb | Artwork | 5% repair rar
© 2018 Bayard Musique | 308 475.2
Classical / Medieval / Renaissance / Early Music / Sacred / Polyphony

This is not a groundbreaking album, but it's a very enjoyable interpretation of two long-time favorites: I can't say as I've ever fetishized the Requiem genre the way that some may have, but there's no arguing with the quality of this music. Ockeghem's reputation remains unchallenged today, and the Requiem is one of his most austere & enduring works. The transition from an earlier style to more elaborate counterpoint of the period also seems to mark something of the medieval twilight…. La Rue has been the most generally compelling composer of the next generation for me, and his Requiem is a virtuoso tour-de-force of low lows & high highs, not to mention the contrapuntal intricacy that La Rue developed to a level of subtlety like no one else….

Pierre de la Rue - Masses - Beauty Farm (2018) {fra bernardo fb1800751 Digital Download}
FLAC (tracks) - 16bit/44kHz - Official Digital Download (qobuz.com) -> 628 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 313 Mb
Full Artwork (jpg+pdf) -> 6 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2018 fra bernardo | fb 1800751
Classical / Renaissance / Early Music / Sacred / Polyphony / Masses

Beauty Farm is a 2014 founded vocal group focused on the Franco-Flemish polyphony of the renaissance. The international ensemble is based in the Carthusian Monastery at Mauerbach (Austria). The singers are members of well known ensembles like Capilla flamenca, Huelgas Ensemble, Vox Luminis, Collegium Vocale Gent and Graindelavoix. On this extensive release, the ever-acclaimed vocal quartet presents four masses of Pierre de la Rue, all composed during the composer's last creative period. Pierre de la Rue is one of the most fascinating and yet most elusive members of the talented generation of composers from around 1500. On the works recorded here he demonstrates his complete polyphonic skills and thus gives the melancholy an intellectual, complex nuance. The necessary lightness is provided by the voices of Bart Uvyn, Hans Jörg Mammel, Hannes Wagner and Joachim Höchbauer.

Josquin Desprez, Pierre de La Rue, Jacob Obrecht - Capilla Flamenca, Oltremontano & Psallentes - Bellum & Pax (2008) {Eufoda 1372}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (image)+CUE+LOG -> 258 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 136 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 52 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2008 Eufoda | 1372
Classical / Renaissance / Polyphony / Missa / Gregorian Chant

For centuries, war and peace have been accompanied by music. Music was present on the battlefield, of course: the sounding of the trumpet as a signal to gather or attack, drumbeats to recruit soldiers or set them marching, battle songs to raise morale among the troops or instil fear in the bosom of the enemy. Once the hostilities were over, there was singing and dancing in the streets to celebrate peace.