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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Richafort: RequiemTributes to Josquin Desprez
Few composers of any age have enjoyed the widespread admiration and unanimous praise of successive generations as Josquin Desprez. He is considered the greatest creator and innovator of musical composition during the Renaissance, and for some half a millennium his music has stood the test of time. He is remembered as much for his own works as for his lasting influence on those of his contemporaries and students, demonstrated in many of the compositions in tribute of 'the Master' featured in this programme. The programme's centrepiece is Jean Richafort's Requiem Mass, Missa pro defunctis, a tribute that employs several of Josquin's compositional devices. The King's Singers once again demonstrate their versatility and trademark precision in this new programme devised by leading early-music scholar and conductor David Skinner. “An unexplored, if slightly morbid Renaissance treasure trove, this CD presents memorials composed by Josquin’s colleagues after the Flemish master’s death...the most astonishing work is Jacquet de Mantua’s Dum vastos, weaving together five Josquin “hits”.” The Times, 6th April 2013 **** “some of the shorter pieces grouped around it by composers who are very little known today contain the most striking music here, especially Hieronymus Vinders' seven-part O Mors Inevitabilis and Jacquet of Mantua's densely polyphonic Dum Vastos Adriae Fluctus. All the Kings' Singers' performances are admirably manicured – perhaps just a little too much so at times” The Guardian, 18th April 2013 **** | 
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We possess many works by Jean Richafort, but very little biographical information on the composer. In the 16th century he was the object of veneration and admiration. The great Ronsard himself spoke of him in the most enthusiastic terms, and most of his contemporaries - Mouton, Morales, Gombert, Palestrina - based Masses on his music. “definitely worth hearing” Early Music Review, February 2013 |
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| |  | Jean Richafort: Requiem& other sacred music
This release presents music associated with the Renaissance master Josquin Des Prez, a composer who towers above all others in the first part of the sixteenth century. Numerous works were attributed to him that have now been proven to be by his contemporaries and successors, including the central work on this recording, Jean Richafort’s expansive and beautiful Requiem. It is performed with affecting clarity by the all-male vocal group Cinquecento, whose many previous discs of Renaissance repertoire for Hyperion have garnered the highest critical praise. Booklet notes by Stephen Rice, an acknowledged authority on this repertoire, place the music in its historical context and unpick the mysteries of its composition. “A sense of intricacy, of allusive layers within layers in the work, is constantly present in Richafort's homage. Cinquecento preface their rather austere performance with the two source works, and follow it with a group of laments from the years after Josquin's death...It's a thoughtfully planned collection, which repays very careful attention.” The Guardian, 19th July 2012 *** “the balance is perfect and the medloci lines are absolutely clear, so that every detail of Richafort's remarkable contrapuntal writing can be heard...If I could nominate this recording as 'Outstanding' twice over, I would do so, for I have run out of superlatives. It is, quite simply, sublime.” International Record Review, September 2012 “their sound has a magic of its own...this ought to win Cinquecento new supporters” Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2012 “Cinquecento captures the work's meditative quality to profound effect, the all-male vocal ensemble creating an aptly plangent sonority and a tone of high seriousness. Using just six singers, one to a part, allows for lucid, detailed textures and chamber-music intimacy, yet, by exploiting their chest voices and the acoustic's natural reverberence, the group can also produce all the opulence and bloom of a much larger ensemble.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2012 *****  BBC Music Magazine
Choral & Song Choice - December 2012 |
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| |  | Music for Philip of Spain
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