Paul Van Nevel, Huelgas Ensemble - La Quinta essentia: Palestrina, Lassus, Ashewell (2007)

Posted By: ArlegZ

Date: 3 Mar 2022 14:15:07

The Huelgas-Ensemble presents another superbly sung, thoughtfully programmed recording that offers for our consideration what conductor Paul Van Nevel describes as “the three major styles of the Renaissance”, represented by Roman, Franco-Flemish, and English Late Gothic masses. It’s easy to understand the choice of Palestrina (Roman) and Lassus (Franco-Flemish)–but with Thomas Ashewell we truly have a horse of a different color, stylistically for sure, but also one with the most meager catalog (only two extant complete works, according to Van Nevel). The term “late Gothic” as applied to musical style also is not a common one, but Van Nevel obviously has carefully–and probably cleverly–chosen to demonstrate its aspects with Ashewell rather than with a more familiar yet more commonly heard contemporary composer such as Cornysh, Fayrfax, or Carver.
All of this aside, what we have here is a very engrossing concert during which you really can hear the distinct differences Van Nevel talks about in his informative notes, and where you can thoroughly revel in sonorities (especially in the Lassus) that resonate so fully and deeply that you suspect some electronic trickery must be involved. But no, we learn that the “trick” is in having found an ideal performing space–the Museum of Water in the Convento dos Barbadinhos in Lisbon (there are several color pictures of this), a high-ceilinged, open-storied architectural marvel whose primary materials seem to be wood and glass and stone. Combine this setting with Huelgas-Ensemble’s absolutely dead-on intonation and focused, dynamic collective sound (not to mention some fine musical material) and you have one incredible vocal-performance event.
You know you’re in for something special right from that first soul-satisfying cadence in the Lassus Kyrie. I was further intrigued at how Lassus preserved elements of his original model (Gombert’s “Tous les regretz” chanson)–for example, Gombert’s typical close-layered imitation technique using very short melodic bits (apparent in the Sanctus)–while still reconstituting the work as his own, and as a functional, formidable, affecting liturgical entity. Although Palestrina’s “Ut re mi fa sol la” Mass is not among his most illustrious in the genre, listeners can easily appreciate its distinctive cantus firmus and the composer’s facility and varied treatment of it throughout. Again, Van Nevel has chosen a worthy yet rarely recorded work–another of this program’s benefits.
As mentioned, Ashewell’s Ave Maria Mass is an adventure unto itself, characterized by long melismas, high treble parts, liberal use of cross relations, and above all, very complex rhythms within and between parts, reminiscent of 15th-century Northern European music from an era even before Ashewell (who was born around 1480, a generation before Lassus and Palestrina). There’s nothing left to say, except if you’re a fan of Renaissance choral music, don’t hesitate.
–David Vernier

Performer:
Huelgas Ensemble
Paul Van Nevel, direction

Track List:
Roland de Lassus (c1532-1594)
Missa "Tous les regretz" LV 626
01. Kyrie
02. Gloria
03. Credo
04. Sanctus
05. Agnus Dei
Thomas Ashewell (c1478-c1513)
Missa "Ave Maria"
06. Gloria
07. Credo
08. Sanctus
09. Agnus Dei
Giovanni da Palestrina (c1525-1594)
Missa "Ut re mi fa sol la"
10. Kyrie
11. Gloria
12. Sanctus
13. Agnus Dei

EAC LOG

Exact Audio Copy V1.3 from 2. September 2016

EAC extraction logfile from 14. November 2021, 20:46

Huelgas Ensemble / La Quinta essentia

Used drive : HL-DT-STDVD+-RW GT10N Adapter: 1 ID: 1

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 102
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000

Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 1024 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files (x86)\Exact Audio Copy\FLAC\FLAC.EXE
Additional command line options : -6 -V -T "ARTIST=%artist%" -T "TITLE=%title%" -T "ALBUM=%albumtitle%" -T "DATE=%year%" -T "TRACKNUMBER=%tracknr%" -T "GENRE=%genre%" -T "COMMENT=%comment%" -T "BAND=%albuminterpret%" -T "ALBUMARTIST=%albuminterpret%" -T "COMPOSER=%composer%" %haslyrics%–tag-from-file=LYRICS="%lyricsfile%"%haslyrics% -T "DISCNUMBER=%cdnumber%" -T "TOTALDISCS=%totalcds%" -T "TOTALTRACKS=%numtracks%" %hascover%–picture="%coverfile%"%hascover% %source% -o %dest%

TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 3:09.68 | 0 | 14242
2 | 3:09.68 | 4:37.19 | 14243 | 35036
3 | 7:47.12 | 7:26.56 | 35037 | 68542
4 | 15:13.68 | 3:25.29 | 68543 | 83946
5 | 18:39.22 | 3:38.53 | 83947 | 100349
6 | 22:18.00 | 7:44.13 | 100350 | 135162
7 | 30:02.13 | 9:43.58 | 135163 | 178945
8 | 39:45.71 | 8:13.58 | 178946 | 215978
9 | 47:59.54 | 8:05.51 | 215979 | 252404
10 | 56:05.30 | 3:47.08 | 252405 | 269437
11 | 59:52.38 | 4:06.48 | 269438 | 287935
12 | 63:59.11 | 6:47.30 | 287936 | 318490
13 | 70:46.41 | 6:30.34 | 318491 | 347774

Range status and errors

Selected range

Filename C:\_RIPs\La Quinta essentia . Huelgas Ensemble\La_Quinta_essentia-Huelgas_Ensemble.wav

Peak level 97.1 %
Extraction speed 2.2 X
Range quality 99.9 %
Test CRC C0F41EF4
Copy CRC C0F41EF4
Copy OK

No errors occurred

AccurateRip summary

Track 1 accurately ripped (confidence 27) [A6E0C7E8] (AR v2)
Track 2 accurately ripped (confidence 27) [FB5A8A55] (AR v2)
Track 3 accurately ripped (confidence 27) [36F847CF] (AR v2)
Track 4 accurately ripped (confidence 27) [67C61FED] (AR v2)
Track 5 accurately ripped (confidence 27) [C75A15E5] (AR v2)
Track 6 accurately ripped (confidence 27) [F509453A] (AR v2)
Track 7 accurately ripped (confidence 27) [62DA9287] (AR v2)
Track 8 accurately ripped (confidence 27) [75E457B3] (AR v2)
Track 9 accurately ripped (confidence 27) [73B4EB34] (AR v2)
Track 10 accurately ripped (confidence 27) [AD95E0C0] (AR v2)
Track 11 accurately ripped (confidence 27) [C335C181] (AR v2)
Track 12 accurately ripped (confidence 27) [8EE5BFF3] (AR v2)
Track 13 accurately ripped (confidence 27) [205223AB] (AR v2)

All tracks accurately ripped

End of status report

–– CUETools DB Plugin V2.1.6

[CTDB TOCID: CTOYLbzyUEkKwI0n8yZGXWEi3XY-] found
Submit result: CTOYLbzyUEkKwI0n8yZGXWEi3XY- has been confirmed
Track | CTDB Status
1 | (41/41) Accurately ripped
2 | (41/41) Accurately ripped
3 | (41/41) Accurately ripped
4 | (41/41) Accurately ripped
5 | (41/41) Accurately ripped
6 | (41/41) Accurately ripped
7 | (41/41) Accurately ripped
8 | (41/41) Accurately ripped
9 | (41/41) Accurately ripped
10 | (41/41) Accurately ripped
11 | (41/41) Accurately ripped
12 | (41/41) Accurately ripped
13 | (41/41) Accurately ripped

==== Log checksum 0DA8885095AF7513F8B8ED8E58AF91E849AB5A4DB2C48A0B6E69021F15887F8E ====

Thanks to the original releaser

Download from icerbox.com

2007 Classical Music FLAC Image Huelgas Ensemble Lossless Orlandus Lassus Palestrina Paul Van Nevel Renaissance Sacred Roland de Lassus