There is a considerable range to the discography of Josquin’s last and perhaps most famous Mass: men’s ensemble (Ensembles Clement Janequin and Organum), mixed choir (Tallis Scholars), English cathedral choir (Westminster Cathedral Choir), to name only some of those currently available (the number of deleted recordings is also considerable). If a niche were needed for this new recording, it might be ‘mixed-trebles-plus-male-ensemble’.
This is A Sei Voci’s second collaboration with the Maitrise des Pays de Loire, a choir that sings with great warmth and flexibility of tone. These attributes stand it in good stead with reference to other recordings: the Westminster Cathedral boy trebles sound thin in comparison, their phrasing unsubtle, the recorded sound far less characterful. Further comparison is difficult, since other versions employ very different forces. My own preference probably remains the robust approach of the Ensembles Clement Janequin and Organum; but this new recording has grown on me, and I can think of no other to claim for an obvious second choice.
True, certain details continue to puzzle me: the decision consistently to flatten the second pitch of the opening phrase in each movement, or to breathe after the first bar of the opening point of imitation of the second Kyrie (which, further, only the trebles seem to do). Rhythmic precision sometimes falters, too, but in this respect the acoustic is very forgiving (and that is not intended, by the way, as a barbed aside). But in Fabre-Garrus’s direction one discerns an interpretative insight borne of real familiarity with Josquin’s music (this is his fifth Josquin recording on Auvidis – Naive Astree’s parent label), an impression that grows with repeated listening.
Though the Mass understandably gets top billing, the accompanying motets can hardly be described as fillers: the two motet-cycles Qui velatus facie fuisti and O Domine, Jesu Christe are highly rhetorical works of great austerity and resonance. A Sei Voci performs these one to a part, and the sound achieved here draws the listener inward. The performance of Qui velatus facie in particular is beautiful: those who (like me, I suppose) already have their favourite recording of Pange lingua will find in these under-recorded pieces sufficient reason for adding this disc to their collection. The same can confidently be said of the plainsong (the soloist in ‘Christus factus est’ deserved to be named) and of the spuriously attributed, canonic Christus mortuus est which strikes me (pace the insert-notes) as a fine piece indeed. It sounds like a work of Josquin’s great contemporary, Pierre de la Rue.'