Starter Packs

Complete your collection with these curated titles, grouped at a special discount.

Shop Now
The Sacred Flame / Rutter, Cambridge Singers, La Nuova Musica
Collegium Records

The Sacred Flame / Rutter, Cambridge Singers, La Nuova Musica

$18.99

Details

Composer
GABRIELI MONTEVERDI PALESTRI
Artist
Rutter, Cambridge Singers, La Nuova Musica, Haworth, Moore, Breakwell, Hobbs, Holliday, Davidson, Hi
Format
CD
Label
Collegium Records
Released
Mar 01, 2009
Catalog #
COLCD134
UPC
040888013426

About


A new recording by John Rutter and his Cambridge Singers is always welcome, and this one features 20 works drawn from the sacred choral repertoire of the Renaissance and Baroque. Most of these are motets and many are familiar (Palestrina's Sicut cervus and Exsultate Deo, Gabrieli's Jubilate Deo, Lassus' Timor et tremor, Josquin's Ave Maria) and all are included in Rutter's published anthology, European Sacred Music (Oxford). As Rutter states, the program's theme is to focus on the "wealth of sacred music...created in continental Europe out of the ferment of the age of Reformation", and while Rutter has chosen primarily works resulting from the "extraordinary flowering" of musical activity in the Catholic church during this period, we also are treated to a motet by Bach (O Jesu Christ, meins Lebens Licht BWV 118/231, often mis-classified as a cantata), a Magnificat (presumably) by Buxtehude, and a psalm (100) by Schütz.

Some listeners of course will disagree, but for me, the program's two longest pieces--Monteverdi's Beatus vir and the Buxtehude Magnificat--are the least interesting, the former's main thematic material formed primarily by repetitive scales and rudimentary harmony set to monotonous rhythm, the latter functional and pleasant enough but rather flat, undynamic, and static, a work that reminds us that just because a notable composer wrote (or may have written!) something and the score survived doesn't necessarily mean it's good or worthy of more than musicological interest.

No matter how you judge these two works, you'll be happy with the performances, which throughout this recording are at the high level we always expect from this choir and director: vibrant, articulate, carefully balanced, and always attentive to a given work's inherent expressive possibilities. And speaking of articulate, it's wonderful to hear the opening Jubilate Deo (a piece lovingly attempted and so often mangled by well-meaning choirs all over the world) sung with such clarity and agility, unrushed; likewise, Palestrina's sublime Sicut cervus is well-paced, each line given its due. Other highlights include the Ave Maria of Josquin (impressive intonation and sectional tone quality), Lassus' Ave verum corpus (those exquisitely sustained long lines!), and a curious--and quite beautiful--setting of Crux fidelis attributed to John IV, King of Portugal. The instrumental ensemble, the relatively "new" La Nuova Musica, is first-rate, its timbres adding textural variety and layers of color to nine of the selections. And completing the package is top-notch production and engineering by Simon Eadon, captured in the excellent acoustics of London's Great Hall of University College School. Needless to say: Highly recommended!

--David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com

Tracklist 20 tracks

  1. 1 Jubilate Deo 05:05
    Track
    1
    Title
    Jubilate Deo
    Duration
    05:05
    Composer
    Giovanni Gabrieli
    Ensemble
    Cambridge Singers, La Nuova Musica
    Conductor
    John Rutter
  2. 2 Beatus vir 08:30
    Track
    2
    Title
    Beatus vir
    Duration
    08:30
    Composer
    Claudio Monteverdi
    Ensemble
    Cambridge Singers, La Nuova Musica
    Conductor
    John Rutter
  3. 3 Christe adoramus te 02:58
    Track
    3
    Title
    Christe adoramus te
    Duration
    02:58
    Composer
    Claudio Monteverdi
    Performer
    Mark Williams
    Ensemble
    Cambridge Singers
  4. 4 Cantate Domino canticum novum 01:51
    Track
    4
    Title
    Cantate Domino canticum novum
    Duration
    01:51
    Composer
    Claudio Monteverdi
    Performer
    Mark Williams
    Ensemble
    Cambridge Singers
  5. 5 Sicut cervus 03:11
    Track
    5
    Title
    Sicut cervus
    Duration
    03:11
    Composer
    Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
    Ensemble
    Cambridge Singers
  6. 6 Exsultate Deo 02:09
    Track
    6
    Title
    Exsultate Deo
    Duration
    02:09
    Composer
    Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
    Ensemble
    Cambridge Singers
  7. 7 Christus factus est 02:04
    Track
    7
    Title
    Christus factus est
    Duration
    02:04
    Composer
    Felice Anerio
    Ensemble
    Cambridge Singers
  8. 8 O vos omnes 03:33
    Track
    8
    Title
    O vos omnes
    Duration
    03:33
    Composer
    Carlo Gesualdo
    Ensemble
    Cambridge Singers
  9. 9 Timor et tremor 03:30
    Track
    9
    Title
    Timor et tremor
    Duration
    03:30
    Composer
    Orlande de Lassus
    Ensemble
    Cambridge Singers
  10. 10 Ave verum corpus 04:09
    Track
    10
    Title
    Ave verum corpus
    Duration
    04:09
    Composer
    Orlande de Lassus
    Ensemble
    Cambridge Singers
    Conductor
    John Rutter
  11. 11 Laudate Dominum omnes gentes 02:49
    Track
    11
    Title
    Laudate Dominum omnes gentes
    Duration
    02:49
    Composer
    Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck
    Performer
    Mark Williams
    Ensemble
    Cambridge Singers
    Conductor
    John Rutter
  12. 12 Magnificat, BuxWV Anh. 1 08:00
    Track
    12
    Title
    Magnificat, BuxWV Anh. 1
    Duration
    08:00
    Composer
    Dieterich Buxtehude
    Ensemble
    Cambridge Singers, La Nuova Musica
    Conductor
    John Rutter
  13. 13 Jesu dulcis memoria 01:51
    Track
    13
    Title
    Jesu dulcis memoria
    Duration
    01:51
    Composer
    Tomás Luis de Victoria
    Ensemble
    Cambridge Singers
  14. 14 O vos omnes, qui transitis per viam 03:14
    Track
    14
    Title
    O vos omnes, qui transitis per viam
    Duration
    03:14
    Composer
    Tomás Luis de Victoria
    Ensemble
    Cambridge Singers
  15. 15 Crux fidelis 02:31
    Track
    15
    Title
    Crux fidelis
    Duration
    02:31
    Composer
    Joao IV (King of Portugal)
    Ensemble
    Cambridge Singers
  16. 16 Ave Maria 06:02
    Track
    16
    Title
    Ave Maria
    Duration
    06:02
    Composer
    Josquin des Prez
    Ensemble
    Cambridge Singers
  17. 17 Dixit Maria ad angelum 02:15
    Track
    17
    Title
    Dixit Maria ad angelum
    Duration
    02:15
    Composer
    Hans Leo Hassler
    Ensemble
    Cambridge Singers
  18. 18 Psalmen Davids sampt etlichen Moteten und Concerten, Op. 2: Jauchzet dem Herren, alle Welt, SWV 36, "Psalm 100" 04:20
    Track
    18
    Title
    Psalmen Davids sampt etlichen Moteten und Concerten, Op. 2: Jauchzet dem Herren, alle Welt, SWV 36, "Psalm 100"
    Duration
    04:20
    Composer
    Heinrich Schütz
    Performer
    Mark Williams
    Ensemble
    Cambridge Singers
  19. 19 Selig sind die Toten, SWV 281 04:07
    Track
    19
    Title
    Selig sind die Toten, SWV 281
    Duration
    04:07
    Composer
    Heinrich Schütz
    Performer
    Mark Williams
    Ensemble
    Cambridge Singers
  20. 20 O Jesu Christ, mein Lebens Licht, BWV 118 04:50
    Track
    20
    Title
    O Jesu Christ, mein Lebens Licht, BWV 118
    Duration
    04:50
    Composer
    Johann Sebastian Bach
    Ensemble
    Cambridge Singers, La Nuova Musica
    Conductor
    John Rutter