From the archives
Andrew Mcgregor takes a deep dive in to the music of Josquin des Prez with Warner’s divine new collection
Josquin Lebloitte, a singer in the Papal Choir in Rome in the late 15th century, is better known to us as Josquin des Prez whose 500th anniversary is being celebrated this year. He was the central figure of the Franco-flemish School, whose masses, motets and chansons were widely circulated and imitated, influencing countless composers. But there’s much we don’t know about Josquin; almost nothing survives in his own hand, and unscrupulous publishers printed pieces as by Josquin that weren’t actually his work at all. So when it comes to recordings, how might it be sung and ornamented when there’s no continuous performing tradition?
This box of Josquin and the Franco-flemish School (Warner Classics 0190296730849; 34 CDS) is a wonderful addition to the anniversary conversation. It begins in the 1960s with Josquin motets inflexibly sung by Capella Antiqua München plus rustic wind accompaniment, and his famous Missa Pange Lingua in a patchy performance from Chorale Philippe Caillard. A decade later David Munrow’s Early Music Consort of London brought us The Art of the Netherlands and The Art of Courtly Love, Josquin and contemporaries bursting with energy, imagination and instrumental colour, sounding just as fresh after half-a-century.
Central to the set is the Hilliard Ensemble’s series of Josquin’s masses, motets and chansons, as well as their major recordings of Dufay, Ockeghem, Isaac, Lassus and others. The Hilliards onevoice-per-part approach and the searing beauty of the singing allows us to hear with remarkable clarity Josquin’s imitative ingenuity and vocal virtuosity. There are other fine contributions from Ensemble Gilles Binchois and The Taverner Consort, while the King’s Singers remind us how little we know of Josquin and Lassus’s motets and chansons. We may miss in this set such key artists as The Tallis Scholars, Ensemble Clément Janequin and lutenist Jacob Heringman. But for context and performance history, this unexpected anniversary collection is a treat.