Superb Reconstruction of Two Anonymous Renaissance Masses

At first glance, one might think that Musique en Wallonie’s new album, devoted to premiere performances of two anonymous masses composed in the last third of the fifteenth century, is only aimed at an audience of connoisseurs who are already loyal to the cause of Renaissance polyphony in our regions. But that would be to ignore everything that contemporary musicology—happily disseminated by ensembles ever more familiar with the demands of music from this time—has done to make this repertoire known: extracting treasures hidden under the dust of libraries and publishing critical editions so as to allow more groups to make these polyphonic masterpieces known to a growing and ever-more interested public.

Even though these sacred works, intended at the time for high-level professional singers, are generally performed by small groups, the conductor Jesse Rodin takes a radical but credible approach. In addition to his magnificent work at the head of the excellent American ensemble Cut Circle, he has played an active role in the exhumation and editing of these two masses (the first preserved in Trent, the second in the Vatican), starting with the correction of copyists’ errors. The performers here opt for the absolute minimum, that is, one voice per part. Contrary to the fears one might have, the chosen approach proves extremely convincing, ensuring the perfect legibility of the polyphony—which sounds with an astonishing richness that one would not have expected from a simple vocal quartet.

It is not without reason that Jesse Rodin titles his liner notes, as erudite as they are fascinating, “Two Hard Masses”—because the demands placed on the performers are considerable. Even if the conductor plays an essential role, he is fortunate to be able to count on four singers whose astonishing virtuosity—absolute accuracy, infallible rhythmic precision, and a perfect balance of voices—meets with astonishing ease the many demands posed by these scores. Although the composers’ names have not reached us, both were true masters from northern Europe, almost certainly from the southern Netherlands.

Rodin does not hesitate to assert—and one cannot blame him—that the quality of the music can be compared to that of the greatest masters of the time, such as Du Fay and Busnoys.

Fortunately, the formidable challenges of the writing never result in a laborious or careful realization. On the contrary, the performances offered here are striking for their naturalness and their bias towards vocal beauty, which avoids the deliberately harsher timbres of groups like the Ensemble Organum and Graindelavoix. But neither will we find angelic languor, nor anything formal or “liturgical” in interpretations in which life emerges from each note, whether on beautiful, simple, and serene pages or on others of maddening rhythmic complexity.

The paradox of these exceptionally high-quality interpretations of rich and complex polyphony is that, although demanding for the performers, the music is a permanent enchantment for the listener.

Sound 10 – Booklet 10 – Repertoire 10 – Interpretation 10 – “Joker”