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The most 'profane' book of the Old Testament was among the favourite biblical texts of the Middle Ages. The composers of the Renaissance made particular use of it as a metaphor of divine love, or in association with the cult of Mary. After their first two extremely successful recordings, the singers of Stile Antico have chosen some of the most sumptuous examples of these musical settings.
Clemens Non Papa: Egos Flos Campi
Palestrina: Osculetur Me
Anon: Dum Esset Rex
Guerrero: Surge, Propera Amica Mea
Gombert: Quam Pulchra Es
Anon: Nigra Sum
Lassus: Veni, Dilecte Mi
Victoria: Vadam Et Circuibo
Anon: Tota Pulchra Es
Guerrero: Ego Flos Campi
L'Héritier: Nigra Sum
Anon: Laeva Eius
Ceballos: Hortus Conclusus
Palestrina: Nigra Sum
Anon: Speciosa Facta Es
Vivanco: Veni, Dilecte Mi
Guerrero: Trahe Me Post Te
Anon: Lam Hiems Transiit
Victoria: Vidi Speciosam
May 2009
*****
“…the superb singers of Stile Antico are up to the challenge of presenting all the required moods from pious restraint… to melting abandon… a magnificent display of the very best kind of polyphonic music.”
29th May 2009
****
“The standout piece is Tómas Luis De Victoria's epic motet "Vadam et circuibo", a masterpiece of polychoral ingenuity.”
3rd May 2009
“This ensemble, its members still in their 20s and just a dozen beautifully blended voices singing a cappella, has emerged as one of the best and freshest early music choirs around. Their third CD is a selection of motet and plainchant settings from the Song of Songs, the startling Old Testament collection of erotic love poems ascribed to King Solomon.”
August 2009
“…these are just the sort of performances I'd hope to hear in church, which was (one feels) the practical and creative laboratory for what is recorded: full but not strained singing, allowing an advantageous acoustic and the number (212) and freshness of voices to take care of blend and balance, with plenty left in reserve for the longer spans of the two magnificent Victoria anthems, Vadam et circuibo and Vidi speciosam.”
2010
“One expectation that such an album may raise in its listeners is an answer to the question of what common and special inspiration might composers have taken from contemplating this most erotic of Biblical texts. The symptoms of their reactions might be sensuous melismas, perhaps, and anguished suspensions, surging bass–lines and… let us draw a veil there. Such devices and stratagems are in abundance, whether chastely deployed in turn by Clemens and Palestrina or flaunted all at once in the selections of Guerrero and Gombert, though no more so than they would be on a programme of Marian or Lenten devotions; and these are just the opening four tracks. That unfair calculation ignores the plainchant antiphons between each pair of motets. These interspersions work well – as they must in a genuinely liturgical context, as here, thanks to the quiet good taste and stylistically homogeneous approach of Stile Antico, with an especially winsome unanimity to the female–only Tota pulchra es. Indeed, these are just the sort of performances one would hope to hear in church, which was (one feels) the practical and creative laboratory for what is recorded: full but not strained singing, allowing an advantageous acoustic and the number (12) and freshness of voices to take care of blend and balance, with plenty left in reserve for the longer spans of the two magnificent Victoria anthems, Vadam et circuibo and Vidi speciosam.”
Click on any of the works listed above for alternative recordings.
Clemens Non Papa: Egos Flos Campi
