Josquin des Prez
Josquin des Prez shaped Renaissance vocal polyphony into something keenly expressive: independent voices that imitate, answer and lock around the text. Masses, motets and chansons still sound alive in the throat.
His Missa Pange lingua takes a plainchant hymn and builds long, seamless architecture, entries and exits woven so the line barely breaks. Motets such as Illibata Dei virgo nutrix, Absalon fili mi and Inviolata, integra et casta es Maria shift between dense imitation and sudden openness, the words riding inside the weave. Secular pieces cut closer still. Mille regretz and Allegez moi carry leave-taking and desire in short, repeating motifs that pass from voice to voice. The writing asks for blend, knife-edge intonation and space to breathe; when those arrive, the polyphony feels less antique than urgently human, whether in chapel mass, Christmas liturgy or the spare sting of a chanson.
Josquin des Prez is featured on the following titles
The Secular Josquin
Nicholas Routley brings a lifelong love of Josquin to his work with The Song Company. This programme of short secular songs and motets offers an unusual window on a repertoire less often heard among recordings of the composer.
Josquin
Nicholas Routley has made a speciality of this Renaissance repertoire, and the Sydney Chamber Choir sings it magnificently. Recorded in a small chapel with a perfect acoustic, Josquin's music has rarely sounded so alive.
Compositions by Josquin des Prez also appear on
Christmas to Candlemas
Ensemble Gombert is one of Australia’s finest choral groups. Directed by John O’Donnell – organist, harpsichordist and highly respected academic – the ensemble is known for historically informed performances of Renaissance and later choral repertoire.
The Ockeghem Legacy
A celebration of Ockeghem’s life and work. His death prompted many elegies, the most famous being Josquin’s Nimphes des bois. Every composer on this disc is said to have been present at his funeral in 1497.