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An Inktroduction.
What do you get when you combine intelligent musical, literary and
historical scholarship, and four women with the most sensuous voices?
Need I say it - Anonymous 4:
namely, Ruth Cunningham, Marsha Genensky, Susan Hellauer and Johana
Maria Rose, who came together in the mid-1980's merely to "experiment
with the sound of medieval chant and polyphony as sung by higher
voices". Rightfully acknowledged for their magnificent vocal blend
and technical virtuosity, the four women enjoy presenting innovative
concert programs that interweave music with poetry and narrative;
and have earned the highest praise and critical acclaim the world
over: from evenings in their New York City home-base, to festivals
and radio broadcasts throughout the U.S., Europe and Australasia.
Their devotion to the task-at-hand is admirable: take this present
recording for instance - their eighth release - a collection of
13th and 14th century polyphonic settings of medieval Britain's
liturgical devotions to the Virgin Mary; and the results are impressive,
enriching, and a pleasure to behold.
A Lammas Ladymass
attempts to depict the typical British 'Ladymass' - a votive mass
in Mary's honour - as it might have been sung in the summer portion
of the church year in the Middle Ages; situated perhaps around the
feast of the Assumption in the month of August. The customary 'Church
Year', centered around the birth of Jesus near the year's darkest
day and his resurrection from death at the time of spring's renewal
of the earth, embodies a profound Christian preoccupation with Nature
and her power over the earth.
It is so that the early fathers of the church decided to place Mary's
coronation as Queen of Heaven during the harvest months - inevitably
linking her name with renewal and replenishment: "just as the promise
of spring passes into the barren beauty of summer and is fulfilled
in the bounty of harvest, so the young girl who humbly accepts Gabriel's
message is strengthened through suffering and is taken up and crowned
with glory at last".
Medieval Britain
called this time of the year "Lammas". The original celebration
of the Celtic "Lammas" coincided with the beginning of the first
grain harvest, days of fullness and plenty after the "hungry" months
of July, when the winter stores would have run-out.
Susan Hellauer, who
pens the booklet-notes, informs us that the organisation of the
settings on this disc are of a unified, cyclical order peculiar
only to the practice which prevailed in the late Middle Ages; and
the individual numbers themselves were not specific to any occasion
- they were selected from different sources primarily for this recording
alone.
Before Mass proper
begins, we start with an antiphon, followed by a hymn - in this
case, O quam glorifica, one of such beauty and simplicity
which sings of the Virgin Mary's radiance and her destiny at being
chosen by God to be the mother of His son. The subdued tranquility
of this hymn gives way to a spirited and virtuosic conductus
in which all the voices declaim the same text together. A second
conductus follows almost immediately after: this latter is
sung twice (it is repeated near the close of the Mass), but its
reappearance indicates to the singers to exchange text and tune
at each turn of phrase - "Salve mater salvatoris": a haunting and
lovely chant which sings of Mary's chastity and beauty, the mother
who brings salvation to sinners.
The Introit,
which signals the start of the ceremony, opens into the Kyrie;
here based on the popular "Kyrie orbis factor" tune still in use
today, but performed by our four heroines in a style which combines
chant with polyphony. A bold and ebullient Gloria follows:
we are told, however, that the singers have treated the diction
of the text with a certain degree of freedom. The succeeding Gradual
is exemplary of plainchant of a high order; and the subsequent Ave
gloriosa mater is notated in such a way that it can be sung
either as a motet or a conductus. Our girls have decided on the
latter.
The alluring and
doubtless technically-demanding Alleluia is a three-voiced
setting with a troped ending; and is followed in its turn by two
sequences, O maria stella maris and O ceteris preambilis.
Sequences (settings of double-versicle poetry with a rhyme scheme
of aa bb cc, etc.) were common in the Middle Ages, some being
set in the "conductus" style. Written in great numbers for local
usage, the most beloved of them gained popularity throughout Europe.
A motet precedes
the Offertory and that chosen here offers an insight into
the nature of the medieval motet: in which two or three different
poems are sung at the same time over an untexted tenor that is derived
from plainchant. O quam glorifica/ O quam beata domina/ O quam
felix femina sets the text (but not the music) of the first
three verses found in the opening hymn sung in this recording.
The Sanctus
and Agnus Dei are derived from the 14th century, and are
both based on plainchant. Their delicacy and transparency are a
good test for the singers' ensemble virtuosity: just listen to those
infectious upper mordants in the Agnus Dei! The brief Communion
leads to the dismissal, and a final sequence "Pangat melos grex
devotus" - a masterpiece of profound expression - wraps up the
proceedings.
The singing of this
quartet is faultless throughout and their sensitivity to the music
is truly a marvel. This CD would also prove an interesting addition
to scholarly collections; but I would urge non-early music enthusiasts
to allow themselves to broaden their horizons with any one of this
group's award-winning recordings. To me, it is certainly a therapeutic
and welcome change to more traditional instrumental-fare. Recommended.
DARRELL
ANG really does not mean to be anonymous about himself.
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respond to this article, please post your comments to classical@inkpot.com
541:
20.6.1999 © Darrell Ang
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