Josquin Desprez: Missa Malheur me bat, NJE 9.1

Album review

Gli Angeli Genève and their conductor, Stephan MacLeod, have specialized mostly in Baroque oratorio and other Baroque music for voices and instruments. An a cappella recording of Josquin Desprez marks a new departure for them, but it is one that testifies to the vocal virtuosity of this group. The album includes Josquin's Missa Malheur me bat, a parody mass based on a lost original and even more intricate than most of the composer's masses. Gli Angeli Genève sings it with two voices per part, also a change from the group's earlier releases that have featured refreshingly large ensembles. This is perhaps the black belt among vocal performance procedures, with a subtle balance between vocal blend and the individuality of the single voices. It is a smaller group than would have sung the music during Josquin's life, and it diminishes the impact of the various solo passages that MacLeod logically adds to the music. However, the vocal pairs often have a strong emotional impact in these somber pieces, mostly in the Phrygian mode with its dark opening half-step (the mood brightens only with the final motet Preter rerum seriem). Sample the well-trodden chanson Mille regretz, where the small group does make sense. The program breaks up the mass with motets and chansons, which makes less sense when the interpolated pieces are not particularly related to the mass. Yet many of the individual performances have a powerful, emotionally intimate feel, and the handling of the double-voice forces is gorgeous. Another draw is the resonant sound from the Église Saint-Germain in Geneva. An intriguing new turn from this durable early music ensemble.
© James Manheim /TiVo