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Pierre de La Rue (1460 - 1518)

The Complete Magnificats, Three Salve Reginas (2 CDs)

Label: Naxos, 8.557896-97
Year: 2007

Performers:

Viva Voce

Peter Schubert - conductor

This release includes what are apparently the first recordings of Pierre de la Rue's seven preserved settings of the Magnificat (only the setting in the third mode cannot now be found). Each of the seven Magnificats is matched with an appropriate chant antiphon and, as contrast, three settings of the Marian antiphon 'Salve Regina' by De la Rue are also included.
Viva Voce is an excellent mixed choir. Their sound is perhaps an ideal balance between the clarity of certain English mixed groups (such as The Tallis Scholars), which can be somewhat antiseptic, the unique "pure" sound of English boys choirs, and the rather robust sound of some traditional mixed choirs (some of Robert Shaw's recordings). Peter Schubert never forces an elaborate emotionalism on his interpretations of De la Rue's intricate polyphony but does seem to have an intuitive sense (perhaps based on his intimate academic knowledge of counterpoint) how to emphasize the interaction and independence of each individual part. Since all of De la Rue's compositions included on these two discs are based on chant, the singers bring a chant-like subtlety to their phrasing of the individual polyphonic parts.
This is a significant release and ideally demonstrates an aspect of De la Rue's genius not always evident in his more intellectual mass settings and motets.

At the turn of the 15th century, Pierre de La Rue was the leading composer working north of the Alps. A member of the Habsburg-Burgundian chapel, he composed polyphony for all the major liturgical genres. This is the first recording of La Rue’s seven surviving Magnificats as well as three of his six settings of the Salve Regina, one of which quotes chansons by Dufay and Binchois. Varied voicing, surprising tonal relationships and contrasting textures make each setting distinct. La Rue’s mastery of old and new musical styles endows these pieces with great expressive force.

The shadow cast by Josquin des Pres over the early Renaissance period is so all encompassing that it's easy to miss the fantastic, and musically very different, achievements of his contemporaries. One of them is Dutch composer Pierre de la Rue, whose remarkable music is a blend of both established techniques drawing from medieval practice in elaborating chant and then-new techniques of part-writing and imitation devices. Naxos' Pierre de la Rue: The Complete Magnificats; Three Salve Reginas featuring a cappella vocal group VivaVoce under the direction of Peter Schubert, is a major contribution to de la Rue's recorded canon, covering a major subset of his work - his eight settings of the Magnificat in its entirety, along with three of his Salve Reginas. Hitherto the parts of de la Rue's output that have received the most attention are his settings of the mass - of which there are more than 30 - and his secular chansons.
Recorded at the L'Eglise de la Visitation, which is the oldest standing church in Montreal, the sound so important in Renaissance vocal music is very good, a little distant but not too far away, with just enough natural reverberation to provide a sense of space and take the edge off the voices. In a musicological sense, this is very integral and no nonsense; the recording is rich with chant incipits and it appears that every possible incipit is taken, and there is no attempt at "period ornamentation" of which we know next to nothing in this era, or of other speculative devices. That said, it is also true that all of the readings are very close to one another in terms of tempi and dynamics; very few, if any, details stand out, and Schubert's interpretation seems to attempt for a kind of unanimity of sound throughout without regard for the text and what it means. While VivaVoce achieves a lovely general sound, these performances never quite seem to take wing as in Naxos' transcendent recording of Jacob Obrecht's Missa Caput by Jeremy Summerly and the Oxford Camerata, or, to keep the comparisons relevant to the composer, Schola Discantus' recording of de la Rue's Missa de Sancta Anna. In sum, while Naxos' Pierre de la Rue: The Complete Magnificats; Three Salve Reginas might not take you to heaven, it is certainly a faithful and honest offering in the spirit of de la Rue and does considerable justice to a significant part of his oeuvre.

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