Obrecht: Missa Caput; Salve Regina

Obrecht: Missa Caput; Salve Regina

Obrecht: Missa Caput; Salve Regina
List Price: $8.99
Category: Music CD
See more CD details
Listen soundtracks from this album


Buy Obrecht: Missa Caput; Salve Regina at Amazon.com
(Click here)
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store

CD Details

Composer: Jacob Obrecht
Composer: Gregorian Chant
Conductor: Jeremy Summerly
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1998-06-02
Music Label: Naxos
Soundtracks:
  1. Salve regina, motet for 4 voices
  2. Venit ad Petrum
  3. Missa Caput, mass for 4 voices: I. Kyrie
  4. Missa Caput, mass for 4 voices: II. Gloria
  5. Missa Caput, mass for 4 voices: III. Credo
  6. Missa Caput, mass for 4 voices: IV. Sanctus
  7. Missa Caput, mass for 4 voices: V. Agnus Dei
  8. Salve regina, motet for 6 voices

Music reviews of Obrecht: Missa Caput; Salve Regina

Music Review: Flamboyant Gothic!
Rating: 5 Stars

"Flamboyant Gothic" is a specific designation in architecture, the meaning of which should be obvious "on the surface". If ever a piece of music could bear comparison to the flamboyant architectural extravagances of the portals of a Gothic cathedral, or to the prismatic radiance of Gothic stained glass windows, it would be Jacob Obrecht's Missa Caput, with its 'surface' of restless ornamental energy, its constant rhythmic prolations and colorations (also specific terms, referring to shifts in rhythm, usually between twos and threes), and its expressive exuberance, so distinct from the common apprehension of Obrecht as an 'intellectual' composer of otherwordly devotions. But, just as the most gargoyled and bedizened Gothic cathedral is supported on buttresses of exquisite engineering, structured in space and time by mathematics and pragmatic masonry, the Missa Caput is supported by a remarkably firm frame of 'cantus firmus' derived from a widely-known anonymous "Flamboyant English" mass which uses as its 'tenor' the melimastic last phrase, on the word CAPUT, from the plainchant antiphon 'Venit ad Petrum'. The tern 'tenor' is also specific in musicology, referring not to the high male voice but rather to the line of music, often expressed in long notes, that 'holds' (mainTAINs) the composition together. For Obrecht, and for Obrecht's generation, the evolution of the tenor, the structural role of the tenor, was probably the most significant question of musical theory.

Obrecht borrowed more than the simple tenor sequence of pitches for this mass. Essentially he recycled the whole lay-out of voices, spreading the tenor role throughout the various parts in all five sections of the 'ordinaries' (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei). Why he chose to do so is the sort of subject doctoral candidate salivate over. But then, there's a mystery about Obrecht's musical personality -- his constantly changing stylistic experimentation -- that attaches to nearly all of his 30 surviving masses, despite the fact that Rob Wegman has written the most ample and insightful biography about Obrecht of any Renaissance composer. The mystery is even stranger when one realizes that Johannes Ockeghem, Obrecht's great musical model, also recycled the English Missa Caput as the foundation of one of his own most energetic masses. Competition? Emulation? Aspiration? Or some spiritual urge that Obrecht's peers would have taken for granted but that is impenetrable to us today?

The Oxford Camerata is an ensemble that I have sometimes found disappointing. With twelve or more voices, they can sound awfully "choral" and stodgy. This performance, however, is one of their best... I might even crawl out on the limb and say, their very best. The musical texture, despite all the flourishes and whirligigs, is wonderfully 'transparent', allowing each part to declaim its own musical ideas distinctly, and the Camerata makes the most of that transparency. They could stand a little more testosterone in the lower parts -- an Italian ensemble like La Risonanza could lend them a bass -- unless, as I suspect, they are transposing the whole score to suit the ranges of their female sopranos. There is a level of artistry that the Oxford Camerata doesn't reach; if you want to hear that level, listen to The Clerks' Group singing Pierre de la Rue's Missa de Santa Croce, another example of flamboyant polyphony. In comparison to that performance, this CD doesn't merit the full five stars. Four-and-a-half, okay.

This is one of the only five CDs of the masses of Jacob Obrecht that I recommend. The others are:
The Tallis Scholars - "Maria Zart"
Cappella Pratensis - "Sancto Donatiano"
The Clerks' group - "Sub tuum praesidium"
The Clerks' group - "Malheur me bat"

Description of Obrecht: Missa Caput; Salve Regina

He may not be well-known today, but in his own time (the late 15th century) Jacob Obrecht was nearly as respected a composer as Josquin des Prez himself. (In fact, Obrecht was Josquin's successor at the court of the Duke of Ferrara). Obrecht's music has a wide expressive range, from somber to serene to jubilant, with rhapsodic, often soaring melodies. His sacred pieces tend to be long--the Missa Caput runs 45 minutes, each Salve Regina 15 minutes--and it's easy for performers to lose the music's focus. Yet Summerly always maintains the melodic momentum and shows us the music's sensual beauty as well as its spirituality. On earlier discs the Oxford Camerata has sometimes sounded unpolished and/or uninvolved--a poor man's Tallis Scholars; here they sing with accurate tuning and clear tone, sounding every bit the equals of their higher-priced colleagues. This would be a worthwhile record at full price; at Naxos's budget price it's extraordinary. --Matthew Westphal

General CDs

Music Genres
Bestsellers in General CDs
Debussy: Clair de lune & Other Piano Favourites ImageDebussy: Clair de lune & Other Piano Favourites
Release date: 2004-05-18; Music CD
Best price: $5.59
Price in other shops: $8.99
My Christmas ImageAndrea Bocelli - My Christmas
Andrea; Release date: 2009-11-03; Music CD
Best price: $7.21
Price in other shops: $18.98
The Most Relaxing Classical Music in the Universe ImageThe Most Relaxing Classical Music in the Universe
Release date: 2003-04-08; Music CD
Best price: $6.54
Price in other shops: $11.98
Bach: The 6 Unaccompanied Cello Suites ImageBach: The 6 Unaccompanied Cello Suites
Sony; Release date: 2006-06-06; Music CD
Best price: $10.60
Price in other shops: $15.99
The Best of Andrea Bocelli: Vivere ImageAndrea Bocelli - The Best of Andrea Bocelli: Vivere
Andrea; Release date: 2007-10-30; Music CD
Best price: $8.48
Price in other shops: $18.98
Andrea Bocelli: Vivere - Live in Tuscany [Blu-ray] ImageAndrea Bocelli: Vivere - Live in Tuscany [Blu-ray]
Andrea; Release date: 2009-06-02; DVD
Best price: $17.50
Price in other shops: $34.98
Mendelssohn: Piano Trios Op 49 Op 66 ImageYo-Yo Ma - Mendelssohn: Piano Trios Op 49 Op 66
Release date: 2010-02-02; Music CD
Best price: $10.19
Price in other shops: $13.98
An Evening With Il Divo-Live In Barcelona (CD/DVD) ImageIl Divo - An Evening With Il Divo-Live In Barcelona (CD/ DVD)
Release date: 2009-12-01; Music CD
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops: $18.98
David Garrett ImageDavid Garrett - David Garrett
GARRETT,DAVID; Release date: 2009-06-02; Music CD
Best price: $6.64
Price in other shops: $13.98
The Canadian Tenors ImageThe Canadian Tenors - The Canadian Tenors
Release date: 2009-10-26; Music CD
Best price: $10.94
Price in other shops: $16.98
Similar CDs
Palestrina: Missa Papae Marcelli, Missa Aeterna ImagePalestrina: Missa Papae Marcelli, Missa Aeterna
Release date: 1994-02-15; Music CD
Best price: $3.24
Price in other shops: $8.99
Leonin, Perotin: Sacred Music from Notre-Dame Cathedral ImageLeonin, Perotin: Sacred Music from Notre-Dame Cathedral
Release date: 2005-07-19; Music CD
Best price: $4.24
Price in other shops: $8.99
Gesualdo: Complete Sacred Music for Five Voices ImageGesualdo: Complete Sacred Music for Five Voices
Release date: 1996-01-04; Music CD
Best price: $5.34
Price in other shops: $8.99
Palestrina: Missa Hodie Christus natus est; Stabat Mater; Lasus: Missa Bell' Amfitrit' altera ImagePalestrina: Missa Hodie Christus natus est; Stabat Mater; Lasus: Missa Bell' Amfitrit' altera
Release date: 1993-01-01; Music CD
Best price: $4.55
Price in other shops: $8.99
Obrecht: Missa Maria Zart ImageObrecht: Missa Maria Zart
Release date: 2001-11-13; Music CD
Best price: $15.69
Price in other shops: $19.98
Machaut: La Messe de Nostre Dame; Songs from Le Voir Dit ImageMachaut: La Messe de Nostre Dame; Songs from Le Voir Dit
Release date: 1996-12-17; Music CD
Best price: $4.65
Price in other shops: $8.99
Dufay: Missa L'homme arm?; Supremum est mortalibus bonum ImageDufay: Missa L'homme arm?; Supremum est mortalibus bonum
Release date: 1995-06-27; Music CD
Best price: $4.59
Price in other shops: $8.99
Willaert: Missa Christus Resurgens, Magnificat Sexti Toni, etc / Summerly, Oxford Camerata ImageJeremy Summerly, Oxford Camerata - Willaert: Missa Christus Resurgens, Magnificat Sexti Toni, etc / Summerly, Oxford Camerata
Release date: 1999-01-19; Music CD
Best price: $4.22
Price in other shops: $8.99
Lassus: Masses for Five Voices; Infelix ego ImageLassus: Masses for Five Voices; Infelix ego
Release date: 1994-06-28; Music CD
Best price: $3.99
Price in other shops: $8.99
Ockegham: Requiem; Missa Prolationum; Intemerata Dei Mater ImageJohannes Ockeghem, Musica Ficta - Ockegham: Requiem; Missa Prolationum; Intemerata Dei Mater
Release date: 1997-01-01; Music CD
Best price: $3.49
Price in other shops: $8.99
Compare prices and find music notes for more than one million Music CD titles