Alamire sparkles in these many-splendoured motets
Paul Riley is dazzled by David Skinner’s exceptional reimagining of works by Hieronymus Praetorius
H Praetorius
Motets in 8, 10, 12, 16 & 20 Parts Alamire; His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts/ David Skinner; Stephen Farr (organ) Inventa INV001 100:25 mins (2 discs) Is Hieronymus Praetorius enjoying something of a ‘moment’? After languishing for so long in relative obscurity there are stirrings afoot. Two major releases surfaced last year, and now comes an ambitious two-disc set interleaving motets written for up to 20 parts with a Mass alternating plainsong and organ, plus two similarly structured sequentiae. It’s the latest scrupulously researched project from Alamire, and director David Skinner has plundered Michael Praetorius’s Syntagma Musicum for ideas as to how to present the music of a near-contemporary who, despite sharing a surname and predilection for the splendours of the polychoral Venetian school, was not, in fact, related. With an eye on contrast and an ear attuned to imaginative ‘orchestration’ Skinner rings the changes, sometimes doubling a vocal line with brass, sometimes deleting voices altogether; and he holds a Danish ace up his sleeve in the guise of the Roskilde Cathedral organ – some of whose pipes are contemporaneous with Hieronymus himself.
Size isn’t everything. For all its resplendent 20 parts, Decantabat populous isn’t necessarily more compositionally sophisticated than Levavi oculos meos deploying half that number; but across the discs Skinner contrives a glorious earful, even in the alternating modus operandi of the Mass and sequentiae. Thanks to exemplary editing, nowhere does the Danish organ sound as if parachuted in. Rather it’s as if the magisterial Stephen Farr and Alamire are responding to each other in the same venue. Skinner’s tempos allow myriad details to register within the more engorged numbers, while all the interlocking elements of vocal and instrumental ‘choirs’ are balanced with exceptional skill. Turn the volume to ‘max’ and wallow!
PERFORMANCE ★★★★★
RECORDING ★★★★★
Hear extracts from this recording and the rest of this month’s choices on the BBC Music Magazine website at www.classical-music.com
The Roskilde Cathedral organ is the ace up Skinner’s sleeve