Lassus: St. Matthew Passion / Holten, Musica Ficta

$19.99
Label
Naxos
Release Date
February 9, 2018
Format
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    Featuring ⌄
    • COMPOSER
      LASSUS, ORLANDUS
    • PERFORMER
      Musica Ficta, Holten
    Product Details ⌄
    • RELEASE DATE
      February 09, 2018
    • UPC
      747313384075
    • CATALOG NUMBER
      8573840
    • LABEL
      Naxos
    • NUMBER OF DISCS
      1
    • GENRE
      Classical
    Works ⌄

    1. Passio Domini nostri Jesu Christi (Evangelist, Jesus, Priest)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Performer: Torsten Nielsen, Lauritz Jakob Thomsen

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    2. Ut quid perditio haec (Chorus, Evangelist, Jesus)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Performer: Torsten Nielsen, Lauritz Jakob Thomsen

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    3. Quid vultis mihi dare et ego vobis eum tradam? (Judas, Evangelist)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Performer: Torsten Nielsen

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    4. Ubi vis paremus (Chorus, Evangelist, Jesus)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Performer: Torsten Nielsen, Lauritz Jakob Thomsen

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    5. Numquid ego sum, Domine? (Chorus, Evangelist, Jesus)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Performer: Torsten Nielsen, Lauritz Jakob Thomsen

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    6. Numquid ego sum rabbi? (Judas, Evangelist, Jesus)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Performer: Torsten Nielsen, Lauritz Jakob Thomsen

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    7. Expectans expectavi Dominum (Chorus)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    8. Et hymno dicto exierunt (Evangelist, Jesus)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Performer: Torsten Nielsen, Lauritz Jakob Thomsen

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    9. Et si omnes scandalizati fuerint in te (Petrus, Evangelist, Jesus)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Performer: Torsten Nielsen, Lauritz Jakob Thomsen

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    10. Etiam si oportuerit me mori tecum (Petrus, Evangelist, Jesus)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Performer: Torsten Nielsen, Lauritz Jakob Thomsen

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    11. Tristis est anima mea (Chorus)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    12. Et progressus pusillum procidit (Evangelist, Jesus)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Performer: Torsten Nielsen, Lauritz Jakob Thomsen

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    13. Qui vult venire post me (Chorus)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    14. Quemcumque osculatus fuero (Judas, Evangelist)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Performer: Torsten Nielsen

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    15. Ave rabbi (Judas, Evangelist, Jesus)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Performer: Torsten Nielsen, Lauritz Jakob Thomsen

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    16. Animam meam dilectam tradidi (Chorus)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    17. At illi tenentes Iesum (Evangelist)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Performer: Torsten Nielsen

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    18. Hic dixit possum destruere templum Dei (Chorus, Evangelist)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Performer: Torsten Nielsen

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    19. Nihil respondes ad ea (Priest, Evangelist)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Performer: Torsten Nielsen

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    20. Adiuro te per Deum vivum (Priest, Evangelist, Jesus)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Performer: Torsten Nielsen, Lauritz Jakob Thomsen

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    21. Blasphemavit quid adhuc egemus testibus (Priest, Evangelist)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Performer: Torsten Nielsen

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    22. Reus est mortis (Priest, Evangelist)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Performer: Torsten Nielsen

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    23. Prophetiza nobis Christe (Priest, Evangelist)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Performer: Torsten Nielsen

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    24. Et tu cum Iesu Galilaeo eras (Ancilla, Evangelist)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Performer: Torsten Nielsen

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    25. Nescio quid dicis (Petrus, Evangelist)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Performer: Torsten Nielsen

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    26. Et hic erat cum Iesu Nazareno (Ancilla, Evangelist)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Performer: Torsten Nielsen

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    27. Vere et tu ex illis (Chorus, Evangelist)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Performer: Torsten Nielsen

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    28. Lagrime di San Pietro: No. 3. Tre volte havev'a

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    29. Mane autem facto (Evangelist, Judas)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Performer: Torsten Nielsen

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    30. Quid ad nos tu videris? (Priest, Evangelist)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Performer: Torsten Nielsen

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    31. Non licet mittere eos in corbanan (Priest, Evangelist)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Performer: Torsten Nielsen

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    32. Tu es rex Iudaeorum? (Pilatus, Evangelist, Jesus)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Performer: Torsten Nielsen, Lauritz Jakob Thomsen

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    33. Non audis quanta adversum te dicant testimonia? (Pilatus, Evangelist)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Performer: Torsten Nielsen

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    34. Quem vultis dimittam vobis (Pilatus, Evangelist)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Performer: Torsten Nielsen

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    35. Nihil tibi et iusto illi (Pilate's wife, Evangelist)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Performer: Torsten Nielsen

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    36. Quem vultis vobis (Pilatus, Evangelist)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Performer: Torsten Nielsen

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    37. Barabbam! (Chorus, Evangelist)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Performer: Torsten Nielsen

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    38. Quid igitur faciam de Iesu (Pilatus, Evangelist)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Performer: Torsten Nielsen

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    39. Crucifigatur! (Chorus, Evangelist)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Performer: Torsten Nielsen

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    40. Quid enim mali fecit? (Pilatus, Evangelist)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Performer: Torsten Nielsen

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    41. Crucifigatur! (Chorus, Evangelist)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Performer: Torsten Nielsen

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    42. Innocens ego sum (Pilatus, Evangelist)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Performer: Torsten Nielsen

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    43. Sanguis eius super nos (Chorus, Evangelist)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Performer: Torsten Nielsen

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    44. Ave rex Judaeorum (Chorus, Evangelist)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Performer: Torsten Nielsen

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    45. Vah, qui destruit templum (Chorus, Evangelist)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Performer: Torsten Nielsen

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    46. Alios salvos fecit Helias (Priest, Evangelist, Jesus)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Performer: Torsten Nielsen, Lauritz Jakob Thomsen

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    47. Heliam vocat iste (Chorus, Evangelist)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Performer: Torsten Nielsen

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    48. Sine videamus an veniat Helias (Chorus, Evangelist)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Performer: Torsten Nielsen

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    49. Agnus Dei (Chorus)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    50. Et ecce velum temple (Evangelist)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Performer: Torsten Nielsen

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    51. Vere Dei Filius erat iste (Chorus, Evangelist)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Performer: Torsten Nielsen

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    52. Mors tua, mors Christi (Chorus)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    53. Cum autem sero factum (Evangelist)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Performer: Torsten Nielsen

      Conductor: Bo Holten

    54. Agnus Dei (Chorus)

      Composer: Orlande de Lassus

      Ensemble: Musica Ficta

      Conductor: Bo Holten


Let me first express my gratitude to Bo Holten and his team for giving us what it says in the title.

What Holten has attempted is not so much a reconstruction of what Lassus’ music might have sounded like when sung in Munich in 1575 but rather what he thinks ‘might be a way of making Lassus’ wonderful music accessible to a modern audience, making its natural and reticent telling of the story easy and appealing to follow’.

Be aware that despite Holten’s presentation, Lassus’ St Matthew Passion is very different from Bach’s masterpiece. It’s closer to the near-plainsong style of the early renaissance settings such as Richard Davy’s St Matthew Passion, contained in the Eton Choirbook. What Holten has done, however, is to set Lassus’ beautiful polyphonic choral music within the plainchant setting. Sample, if you can, track 16, the inserted Good Friday motet Animam meam dilectam tradidi (I have betrayed my beloved soul into the hands of the wicked). He even includes an excerpt from Lassus’ Italian madrigal collection Lagrime di San Pietro (Tears of Saint Peter) at the appropriate point midway through the narrative.

That may well set you in search of the complete Lagrime, also very well performed by Bo Holten, with Ars Nova, on an earlier Naxos release (8.553311). Another very fine recording from Philippe Herreweghe and the Ensemble Vocal Européen is also recommendable (Harmonia Mundi d’Abord HMA1951483).

A third very fine recording, from Gallicantus and Gabriel Crouch comes at full price (Signum SIGCD339) but can be downloaded from Hyperion, with pdf booklet. Any one of these would do very nicely but the availability of the Signum in very good 24/96 sound from Hyperion, at a reasonable price – less than other download suppliers and less than the CD – may well clinch the matter. Lassus’ last known work, Lagrime makes a fitting supplement to the Matthew Passion.

I must also include a reminder another recording which features Lassus’ music for Passiontide. If you missed my strong recommendation of Stile Antico’s Passion and Resurrection (Harmonia Mundi HMU807555) in 2013 or John Quinn’s review of the same – Recording of the Month – now is the time to catch up. Lassus’ setting of the responsory In Monte Oliveti is only one of the treasures there.

It’s not clear why Lassus’ passion settings are so sparse, but this recording insets into the rather austere chant polyphonic jewels of great beauty, all rounded off with a performance of Agnus Dei. Austere settings of Passiontide music can be very moving, as in the case of Schütz’s St Matthew Passion, almost a century later (1666), but I found the pairing of austerity and beauty on the new Naxos Lassus recording extremely effective.

It’s less clear why Holten has decided to divide the music after the excerpt from Lagrime di San Pietro between the events of Maundy Thursday and those of Good Friday. There is no liturgical reason to do so: the St Matthew Passion would have been recited on Palm Sunday and the St John on Good Friday. There was no Passion reading at Mass on Maundy Thursday, the gospel for that day referring to the blessing of the oils.

That’s a minor niggle when the performances and recording are so good. Having listened in very decent mp3 via Naxos Music Library, I was pleased that the CD-quality press preview sounded even better. The full text and translation are included but that seems to have reduced the space for Bo Holten’s notes to just one side; I would have liked more.

The supposedly inviolable 80-minute limit for CDs was breached some time ago, but I don’t remember one so long as this. It’s certainly not a question of ‘never mind the quality; feel the width’, but it’s good to have this austere but beautiful setting, enlivened with polyphony, in very fine performances and all contained on a CD running to over 88 minutes. Complement it with the Lagrime di San Pietro.

– MusicWeb International (Brian Wilson)