JOSQUIN: Mass “Malheur me bat”; “Fortuna desperate” – Tallis Scholars/ Peter Phillips, director – Gimell 042, 75:27 [Distr. by Harmonia mundi] *****:
Josquin lover’s alert: if you don’t know these two masses you will instantly fall in love with them, and they might just become your favorites. Based on two different French chansons, the masses each are manipulated in such a skillful manner that for the first time one finds oneself almost trying to sing along with Renaissance polyphony! As the notes are careful to point out, the composer uses all three parts of these chansons as source material in these works, overlapping and creating constantly ever-more complex polyphonic structures that intensify the emotive meaning with every bar.
But the tunefulness comes from the secular songs, strange leaps and odd turns of harmony and phrasing that catch the ear wonderfully and keep one admiring the composer’s ability to weave intricate patterns that both delight the ear and fascinate the mind. Nothing Josquin does is for mere show; even the most diluted harmonic passage has a greater goal behind it, and subtracting one part or another would inevitably diminish the whole. The density is magnificent, the emotional impact astounding.
This is one of two new releases from the indefatigable and inexhaustible Tallis Scholars, led by the equally unrelenting searching and presentation skills of Peter Phillips, and easily the best of his many outstanding Josquin discs. Notable stuff, this, and well worth the attention of every listener with even a modicum of interest in the period.
— Steven Ritter
