Morales, C: Regina caeli a 6

Morales was the first Spanish composer to achieve true international fame, and was described by contemporaries as ‘the light of Spain in music’. Although he is relatively well-represented in recordings, a few pieces have attracted the attention of performers at the expense of the majority of his output. This recording aims to begin filling that gap by presenting works which are so far underexposed, yet which are of extremely high quality.

The longest work on this disc is the Magnificat primi toni. In 1542 Morales wrote a set of eight Magnificats (one in each of the ‘tones’—‘keys’, in modern terms). The prevailing liturgy of the day, however, required the canticle to be sung alternatim, with alternate verses sung to plainchant; to adhere to this, and perhaps to double his earnings, Morales split his compositions in half for publication—apparently two Magnificats per ‘tone’, each with half the verses only set to music. And so it has remained to this day. This is the first recording of any of Morales’s Magnificats to present the entire work as the composer originally intended.

The Brabant Ensemble and Stephen Rice are rapidly confirming themselves as major contenders in the field of Renaissance polyphony. Their performances and recordings are praised both for the integrity of their scholarship and also for their unique vocal balance. This is the group’s fourth recording for Hyperion, and one which we expect to be as favourably received as have been their discs of Crecquillon, Manchicourt and Gombert.

During the first half of the sixteenth century, there was no greater a ruler than the Emperor Charles V, whose court was lavishly supplied with music by composers of high talent. Charles had a personal enthusiasm for music, and his chapel was more or less in constant attendance on his travels. It is small wonder, then, that a number of the greatest composers of the age had some connection with him, including the Franco-Flemish composers Manchicourt, Cristóbal de Morales and Nicolas Gombert. Complementing these composers are the perhaps less well-known Guerrero and Jacobus Clemens non Papa. As members of the chapel choir of Charles V, most of these composers travelled the Empire widely, and were praised as among the outstanding masters of their time. Only Francisco Guerrero worked exclusively in Spain. To us the least well known of the Spanish composers of the period, and consequently the most underrated, he was the most admired Spanish musician of the second half of the sixteenth century, known for his Latin liturgical works. Manchicourt composed some of the most glorious music of the time, this CD including the well-known early motet O Virgo virginum along with the premiere recording of the Agnus Dei from the Missa Reges terrae. De Morales is widely recognised as the most important figure in early sixteenth-century Spanish music, garnering frequent praise from his contemporaries and ranking with Palestrina in his mastery of polyphony. Nordic Voices here present two of his sumptuous and richly varied motets.