Josquin fans must be wondering why their luck has so suddenly turned. It is not just that new and good records of his music now seem to be appearing almost monthly. Nor even that musicians and ensembles—like Philippe Herreweghe and La Chapelle Royale—who have hitherto concentrated on somewhat later music are apparently turning to Josquin, whose music they perform with individuality and seriousness of purpose. It is also that they are concentrating on some of his finest achievements: here, for example, we have not only the miraculous Miserere—the work that the late Edward Lowinsky regarded as music's answer to the Sistine Chapel ceiling—but the six-voice Ave nobilissima creatura, the Stabat mater and the psalm Usquequo, Domine.
With their 19 singers, La Chapelle Royale are to my ear slightly too large to bring the very best out of the music. And if you compare their performance of the Stabat mater with the one by the New College Choir under Edward Higginbottom (Meridian) you are likely to conclude that they occasionally tend towards tubbiness as well. In fact, if you prefer the English sound you may find the sopranos here too reedy and the whole approach too carefree. But those features are perhaps the price for the outgoing musical style that Philippe Herreweghe prefers.
They are heard at their best in the four-voice Salve, regina, where the lines run excitingly and each phrase emerges gloriously from the last. Another excellent performance is Usquequo, Domine, where the (perhaps surprising) decision to choose a lower pitch-standard allows Herreweghe to dispense with his sopranos, thereby displaying the superb control of his altos and particularly his low basses. But I shall probably return to the record most often for the Miserere, where Herreweghe secures the blend of precision and passion that is so necessary if this most extraordinary of works is to make its impact. Well recorded.'