Nicolas Gombert (1495 - 1560)

Missa Media Vita In Morte Sumus


David James - countertenor
Rogers Covey-Crump - tenor
Steven Harrold - tenor
Andreas Hirtreiter - tenor
Gordon Jones - baritone
Robert Macdonald - bass

The Hilliard Ensemble




Nicolas Gombert: 16th-century, born in Flanders, a leading musical figure in Spain at Emperor Charles V’s court... For 400 years his music slumbered, but specialist choirs such as the bold and peerless Hilliard Ensemble are now getting drunk on his vocal counterpoint. Very intoxicating. Music that lifts the spirit and gives no hiding place to performers. Not that the Hilliards need one.

It’s the right group to tackle Gombert’s complex polyphonic works. The middle voices power the majority of the four- to six-voice mass movements, yet David James’ high-register countertenor and Robert Macdonald’s subwoofer-ready bass tones act as outstanding bookends to the contrapuntal wonders of the "Media vita in Morte Sumus" motet, as well as in five movements from "Missa Media Vita"... The Hilliard crew does justice to Gombert with his complex moving lines and dynamics, and gives the composer the respect he deserves.

Gombert’s style of choral composition is characterized by an almost palpable texture, given his avoidance of rests and his craggy contrapuntal style. The result is maximum density choral singing where no aural space is left unfilled. In the present recording, the Hilliard ensemble presents Gombert’s six-voice motet, Missa Media Vita in Morte Sumus (1539). This motet served as the source for the five-voice Missa Media Vita (1542). While Gombert derives from his mentor Josquin, he carries the compositional complexity to the next level. This complexity contains a degree of dissonance previous not heard in a choral setting. This dissonance marks Gombert, making him sound completely unique when compared with Palestrina, Tallis, or Josquin.


The Hilliard Ensemble presents six voices sounding like a thousand. Their singing is clear, sharp, and crystalline without being dry. This motet is the music of anxious mourning and the Hilliards capture it perfectly. This mourning betrays a deep remorse borne under the mantle of great loss. I will stop short of describing this choral singing as beautiful. It is majestic, almost overwhelming in its powerful attack on the senses. Gombert doubtlessly composed this with the biblical Lamentations in mind as no other literary text could spawn such lovely grief.


01. Media Vita for 6 voices
02. Missa Media Vita, for 5 voices: Kyrie
03. Missa Media Vita, for 5 voices: Gloria
04. Salve Regina ("Diversi Diversa Orant") for 4 voices (Motet)
05. Anima mea liquefacta est, for 5 voices (Motet)
06. Missa Media Vita, for 5 voices: Credo
07. O Crux, splendidior, for 6 voices (Motet)
08. Missa Media Vita, for 5 voices: Sanctus
09. Quam pulchra es, for 4 voices (Motet)
10. Missa Media Vita, for 5 voices: Agnus Dei
11. Musae Jovis for 6 voices (Motet)

Total Time: 76'00