Adrian Willaert

The all-male vocal ensemble Cinquecento have won great praise for their recordings of Renaissance rarities. Their tone, vocal flexibility, collective and individual musicianship and commitment to their chosen repertoire places them at the very forefront of modern-day specialists in this music.

Their latest disc features the music of Adrian Willaert, a contemporary of Josquin and for many years chapel master of the Venetian basilica di San Marco. Two extraordinary early works, Missa Mente tota and Quid non ebrietas, testify to the composer’s remarkable talent and love for complex contrapuntal constructions. Also included are four beautiful motets.

The disc is completed by one of the many compositional tributes rained upon Willaert at his death: Cipriano de Rore’s Concordes adhibete animos, a suprisingly joyful posthumous panygeric containing an ostinato on the words ‘Live on Adrian, glory of the Muses’.

All works except for Josquin’s Mente tota and Willaert’s Laus tibi, sacra rubens and Verbum bonum et suave are premiere recordings.

All the music on this CD has a connection with Venice and the collection includes pieces by the contemporary composers Coolen and Vrolijk. Brisk works not only with musicians, but also with actors, directors and film makers for music theatre productions aimed at various audiences.

In 1549, Philip II, heir apparent to the Spanish throne, made a state visit to the Gonzaga court at Mantua. This recording proposes a reconstruction of a celebratory mass given in honour of his visit. The illustrious visitor is acclaimed on his arrival by the regal sounding of cornetts and sackbuts. The cortège then proceeds to the Cathedral of St Peter and St Paul, where the musicians pay homage to the noble Gonzaga family with an unusual and unique parody mass by Jachet of Mantua, composed in honour of the famous military stables of the Dukes of Gonzaga, erstwhile 'condottieri'. This mass, interspersed with magnificent motets by Jachet and Willaert, concludes with a resounding fanfare, accompanying the outgoing procession of the princes.

Smaller stringed instruments began to be developed during the first half of the 16th century, maturing little by little into the vyollon, a term first employed at the court of Savoy in 1523.

It was at this time that violins first began to appear in paintings, one of which is the fresco by Gaudenzio Ferrari that appears on the cover of this CD.

The works recorded here put this period into a clear musical context and provide a fine array of contrasting works for these first violins: on one hand, there are not only works from the Franco-Flemish school that had been flourishing in Italy since the middle of the 15th century, but also works from the pure Italian style that was in the process of being reborn. Motets, ricercars, counterpoints, madrigals and dances are all discovered anew and extend our knowledge of period instruments even further.

This, after all, is one of Ricercar’s principal aims. This recording introduces the Miroir de Musique, an ensemble of young players, the majority of whom studied at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. We are proud to present an exciting programme of works performed by musicians who are able to ally musicology with emotion.

The Motets of Willaert have a mysterious reputation as they were originally performed only in clandestine circles for a few initiates until Alfonso II d’Este had a collection published in 1559 (Musica Nova, Venice).

Singer Pur are a world renowned a capella singing group with a large audience and following. They have won many international competitions, and have appeared on numerous TV shows. The ensemble is stylistically diverse performing music from the medieval right up to the avant-garde.

Compiled during the last third of the 16th C and completed in 1585-1586, the Codex Tarasconi was copied in Parma, probably for use at the court of the Duke of Parma. Performed on traditional instruments, the I Fedeli ensemble are specialists in music from the 16th and 17th centuries.

RICERCAR could not miss Willaert’s anniversary… This recording of Willaert’s secular repertoire gives us a very different vision of his work, compared to his religious music well illustrated by the Vespro della Beata Vergine recording (RIC325).

Here, we can appreciate a musician singing love with sweetness, describing pleasures of the life with a little smile, even sometimes with a bit of salacity. Recorded by Romanesque in 1994, this CD can be listened to with a lot of pleasure. No competition in the market for this recording!

Detailing many an inspiring performance, this release celebrates the rich musical heritage of St Mark’s Basilica through a selection of liturgical works – all of which were written by composers employed at the cathedral during the 16th and 17th centuries.

The release takes as its starting point Giovanni Croce, a Venetian who became maestro di cappella in 1603 and who was highly influenced by the other composers on the set – including Giovanni Bassano and Giovanni Gabrieli. Featuring items from the Divine Office, such as Andrea Gabrieli’s motet ‘Angelus ad pastores’ (which would have followed the reading of a psalm) and Willaert’s ‘O magnum mysterium’ (a responsory to be sung during Matins at Christmas), the compilation also documents excerpts from the Mass – including Giovanni Gabrieli’s ‘Jubilate Deo’. By far the largest work, however, is Croce’s Missa sopra la battaglia (Mass on the Battle), composed in 1596 to honour the day of victory against the Ottoman Turks in 1571.

Using several choruses as well as a rich instrumental consort, Croce’s Mass shows how richly developed was the music at St Mark’s by the end of the 16th century. Its glorious traditions continue, as we can hear from the current choir and instrumentalists of St Mark’s, Cappella Marciana.

Spectacular Venetian polychoral music.

Several works otherwise unavailable on record.

This year we celebrate the 450th anniversary of the death of the Flemish composer Adriaen Willaert, who had been maestro di cappella of St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice long before Monteverdi occupied the post; Willaert was also the inventor of the Venetian polychoral technique, with choral groups placed in the various galleries of the church.

CAPILLA FLAMENCA has chosen the various Psalms and the Magnificat that form his Marian Vespers from his extensive body of sacred music. The organ also plays between the various choral interventions, in keeping with musical practice of the time; Joris Verdin recorded these pieces on the Lorenzo da Prato organ (ca. 1475) in the Basilica of San Petronio in Bologna.