荷兰学究Paul Van Nevel领导的新圣咏团体Huelgas Ensemble演绎文艺复兴时期四位作曲家的哀歌作品。
by James Manheim
Originally recorded in 1997, this disc by the Renaissance-specializing Huelgas Ensemble and leader Paul van Nevel unearthed some gorgeous examples of the long tradition of Lamentations, settings of the Lamentations of Jeremiah, complete with their incantatory Hebrew initial letters (Aleph, Beth...). The tradition lasted for centuries (Couperin's was a notable Baroque example), and the booklet for this disc makes the useful point that composers' attraction for these plaintive Old Testament texts was likely due to purely musical and dramatic factors: the music could be used only once a year, during Holy Week, and the potential liturgical applications don't justify the frequency with which the Lamentations were set. Van Nevel selects one well-known setting, that of Lassus, and situates its rich polyphony as the climax to a group of almost unknown versions. The most interesting find here is the four-voice setting by Marbrianus de Orto, a rough contemporary of Josquin whose Lamentatio Jeremie Prphete for four voices was published by Petrucci in 1506. A rough contemporary of Josquin, Orto may have been the first to use the unique low range often associated with the Lamentations, and thus the somber tone with which the text would be associated henceforth. His mostly syllabic setting has much of the beauty of Josquin's darkest motets. The first two works on the disc are likewise only sparsely recorded. Robert White's Lamentations for five voices offer an attractive contrast of imitative polyphony in the setting of the Hebrew initials with syllabic, harmonically adventurous, rather madrigalian settings of the actual text. Tiburio Massaino, one learns, bounced around Europe because he was hounded by accusations of homosexuality; his setting is the simplest of the four, but it has some harmonically pungent passages. The mostly a cappella singing of the Huelgas Ensemble, using a small group of perhaps eight voices, is marvelously expressive, and at a budget price, this disc, gloomy though it may be overall, would make a fine introduction to Renaissance sacred polyphony for any listener.