Palestrina: Tu es Petrus

Still thought of today as the grand master of the polyphonic style, Palestrina was highly regarded and much published in his lifetime. His output comprises one hundred and four firmly attributed Masses, over three hundred and seventy-five motets, sixty-eight offertories, at least sixty-five hymns, thirty-five Magnificats, four (possibly five) sets of Lamentations, and over a hundred and forty madrigals.

The six-voice Missa Ecce ego Johannes presented here is based on an unknown model. The text ‘Ecce ego Johannes’, from the Book of Revelation, is used for the chapter (capitulum) at Vespers on All Saints’ Day, and it appears elsewhere (in the Sarum books, for example) as an antiphon at Matins for the same feast. The character of Palestrina’s setting, however, suggests that it might well have been based on a polyphonic model. It is a powerful, confident work on a par with the Missa Papae Marcelli and Assumpta est Maria—just listen to the very first notes of the Kyrie.

The motets that accompany the Mass show a more festive side to Palestrina, with exuberant melismatic writing. All of these pieces deserve to be better known and there can be no choir better equipped to show the world the beauty of this music.

A wonderful collection of meditative choral music, spearheaded by Allegri's ubiquitous Miserere and including works by other Renaissance composers, including the magnificent Spem in Alium by Thomas Tallis, performed by two of the foremost British choirs under the direction of two of Britain's leading choral conductors - David Willcocks and Stephen Cleobury.

Renaissance choral music has for many years been marketed as stress-busting music to calm down the weary modern-day man or woman in a world full of uncertainty and danger. Ironically, this music was born in a period of great stress and indeed danger as the Catholic Church and emergent Protestant faith wrestled for authority over nations.

The Catholic Church rose to the challenge with some truly spectacular music, including Allegri’s famous Miserere included on this CD. Written for use exclusively by the papal choir, this music owes its popularity to the young Mozart, who having heard it once, copied the work from memory, bringing it to the outside world.

Radical thought, as so often in history, was a punishable offence in the 16th century. Those who called for church reform were often dealt with brutally, paying with their lives for exposing the machinations and wrongdoings of Popes, bishops, priests and clerics.

It was in such a climate that Palestrina, Monteverdi, Victoria and others produced their greatest religious music. This CD makes a soundtrack to the great theatre that was Roman worship in the 16th and 17th centuries, while also providing nearly 50 minutes of uplifting and spiritual music.

Booklet note, sung texts and translations.

Recording made in 1982.

The celebrated Choir of Westminster Cathedral goes back to its roots with this recording of some of the towering masterpieces of Renaissance polyphony—a genre which the choir has made its own through the ritual of daily liturgical performance. Recent reviews have declared the choir to be at the peak of its powers, and this disc is an important celebration of a great musical tradition.

Palestrina’s Missa Te Deum laudamus, a paraphrase Mass based on the ancient chant, is recorded here with Victoria’s vibrant alternatim setting of the Te Deum. The Mass, like the chant on which it is based, is in the Phrygian mode, which in modern terms can be regarded as a modal form of E minor. Haberl, a late nineteenth-century editor of the complete works of Palestrina, commented that ‘this gives the Mass a certain severity of colouring, but [it is] full of holy fire’.

Missa Tu es Petrus is a parody Mass based closely on Palestrina’s own motet for the Feast of St Peter and St Paul (published in Rome in his second book of motets in 1572), from which a great deal of the musical material of the Mass is drawn. The motet, which precedes the Mass on this disc, is one of the most gloriously sunlit and uplifting pieces in all of Palestrina’s music, and its joyous splendour sets the tone for the Mass.