Timor Mortis

by Ensemble Gilles Binchois, Dominique Vellard

Overview

Timor mortis ("fear of death") is an interesting title for an album that includes a requiem mass and a set of Lamentations for Jeremiah, and the music here is likewise original. It comes from 16th century France, whose tradition of sacred music is not much investigated or recorded. Two of the composers, Charles d'Argentil and Jehan Barra, will be unknown to all but musicologists, and the third, Claudin de Sermisy, is familiar mostly from his sprightly chansons. The booklet here has a substantial scholarly essay on this music, and the album will be essential for library collections of Renaissance music, but the bottom line is that the music is distinctive even for general listeners of Renaissance music. As annotator David Fiala points out, even though the three composers had very different careers, there is a common style here. The Lamentations of Sermisy, the Salve Regina misericordia motet of Barra, and even the Requiem of d'Argentil have lighter, more transparent textures than the monuments of Flemish polyphony that have come down to us from the great Italian houses. The Requiem will be quite expressive and moving even for listeners new to the repertory. The two-voices-per-part readings of the Ensemble Gilles Binchois may be smaller than those that would have sung this music originally, but the singers under conductor Dominique Vellard deliver a nice clean edge, and the sound from the Abbaye Saint-Michel en Thiérache is ideal. A genuine novelty in the Renaissance sphere, of great interest. ~ James Manheim

Product Details

Release Date:	05/31/2024
Label:	Evidence Classics
UPC:	5051083198417
Rank:	65291

Tracks

1. Missa pro defunctis~Introït
2. Missa pro defunctis~Kyrie
3. Missa pro defunctis~Sequence
4. Missa pro defunctis~Pie Jesu
5. Missa pro defunctis~Sanctus
6. Missa pro defunctis~Agnus Dei
7. Missa pro defunctis~Communion
8. Missa pro defunctis~Répons
9. Lamentations~Lectio I
10. Lamentations~Lectio II
11. Lamentations~Lectio III
12. Salve Regina misericordiæ

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Ensemble Gilles Binchois   Primary Artist,Vocal Ensemble
Dominique Vellard   Primary Artist,Conductor

Technical Credits

Jehan Barra   Composer
Charles d'Argentille   Composer
Claudin de Sermisy   Composer
Mary Pardoe   Liner Note Translation
David Fiala   Liner Notes
Little Tribeca   Engineer
Ambroise Helmlinger   Mixing,Editing,Engineer,Mastering,Artistic Director