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Tarfumes.com - Palestrina: Missa Papae Marcelli, Missa Aeterna
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List Price: $8.99
Our Price: $7.99
Your Save: $ 1.00 ( 11% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Naxos
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Average Customer Rating: 
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0730099557320
Label: Naxos
Manufacturer: Naxos
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Naxos
Release Date: 1994-02-15
Studio: Naxos
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Editorial Reviews:
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There's a wonderful legend, retold by (among others) Pfitzner's opera Palestrina, attached to the "Pope Marcellus" Mass: the Council of Trent, ground zero of the Counter Reformation, was about to ban all music but chant from the liturgy when Palestrina submitted this Mass, thereby changing the prelates' minds and saving church music. The writing is beautiful enough to deserve such a story: cheerful yet devout, comprehensible but not simplistic, without the complexity and secular borrowings (very prevalent in the preceding decades) that so perturbed the Council. The Missa Papae Marcelli has been recorded by choirs from Westminster Abbey to the Tallis Scholars, yet the Oxford Camerata does itself proud: Jeremy Summerly's reading of the music is reverently sweet, yet he's not afraid to make a joyful noise when appropriate--and the various voices are unusually clear. The equally radiant Missa Aeterna Christi Munera gets a similarly pleasing performance. Amidst serious competition, Summerly's readings of these Masses are among the best available--and, at Naxos's superbudget price, definitely the best value. --Matthew Westphal
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: Soothing
Comment: I don't listen to this on a regular basis, but occasionally on a long drive, it calms the day. Very peaceful.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Something familiar, something new
Comment: --Palestrina--
Giovanni Pierluigi de Palestrina is sometimes called the greatest composer of the Roman Catholic church. Born in 1525 near Rome, he spent the better part of his career in service to the church as a choir member, choir master, conductor, composer and school master. He was sought after by many churches, and sometimes his popularity and skill got him into trouble both with his clerical patrons and with fellow musicians. He was offered prestigious positions in Rome and Vienna which were ultimately withdrawn because Palestrina's salary and conditions requirements were too high. He had some influence on the Council of Trent's musical decisions for reform of the Catholic worship practices, and was involved intimately with revising the Gradual and produced a harmonised version of the Latin Hymnal in 1589. He died in 1594.
--Masses--
The first mass presented here is Missa Papae Marcelli. Written in the 1550s, it wasn't published until the next decade. Pope Marcellus was only pope for a few weeks, but managed to endear himself to composers and conductors by insisting upon clarity as the highest of virtues for choristers. There is a joy to this, as Palestrina is definitely in the mode of celebrating the life of Pope Marcellus. This is one of Palestrina's most recorded works.
The second mass, Missa Aeterna Christi Munera is likewise a strong composition, although it is much less known than the first. Palestrina wrote over 100 masses in his lifetime (in addition to a wide range of other pieces), so it is not surprising that there might be some relatively overlooked. This particular mass has a more solemn tone to it, but still soars magnificently, and has no real flaws in composition.
--Oxford Camerata and Jeremy Summerly--
The performance of both of these pieces is superb. Perhaps the better performance belongs to the second mass; the Camerata has twelve singers, who double on the six-voice Missa Papae Marcelli, but are able to triple on the four-voice Missa Aeterna Christi Munera. They play with tempo and expression in new ways. The Oxford Camerata was formed in the early 1990s under the direction of Jeremy Summerly - this disc is their second recording. (Legend has it there was a cement mixer just outside the Dorchester Abbey, and that the recording engineers missed the first session for recording due to car trouble.)
Summerly's direction and selection of material and interpretation is such that it bears watching in the future.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Palestrina's a giant in renaissance counterpoint
Comment: Beautifully performed CD of 2 beautiful Masses written by G. Palestrina. Worth listening to and adding to album collection. Palestrina definitely is unsurpassed in Renaissance Counterpoint and is rightfully called the Prince of Music.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Outstanding - music of the spheres.
Comment: I've sung much renaissance polyphony, especially Palestrina, and this is about as good as recording gets. The musicality of the entire album, the perfect blend of voices (as well as a the utterly exquisite quality of that of the second tenor) and the perfection of the composition are all factors which contribute to something nonetheless mysteriously holy and beautiful about this recording; maybe what the music was really meant to be.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Palestrina's Masses...I love them all...
Comment: I don't think is a good idea to compare composers
from three different musical periods; because of
their different mentalities, different cultures,
and different resources at their disposal...The
Missa Papae Marcelli is of interest because is
one of the earliest works to challange the regulations
in music of the Counter-Reformation; but yet in
other aspects it stays very close to what was expected
of Palestrina...Of special interest of the
Missa Papae Marcelli is the Mass'Gloria....
The Missa Aeterna...is a work that is based
on a motet a procedure that at the time
was a "BIG NO, NO" to the Counter-Reformation
movement...As all of the Palestrina Masses these
works are all full of beauty and serenity...
Oxford Camerata does a wonderful job....
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