Paul Van Nevel has done a great deal for composers whom he judges to have been unjustly neglected. Matthaeus Pipelare is yet another of that seemingly infinite legion of accomplished and exciting composers born c1450 – there are so many of them! – who seem to have been completely ignored by all but the most specialized scholars. His style is typical of what could be described as the Franco-Flemish mainstream. A more specific characterization is tricky; if pushed, I might suggest ‘post-Busnois’, with traces of Josquin in his more scholastic mood. That, at any rate, is the impression one gets from the longest work on the disc, his Missa L’homme arme. This is a welcome addition to the CD repertory of Masses built on the famous tune – although it is probably true that Pipelare’s style is occasionally cramped by the weight of that daunting tradition. Elsewhere, he is noticeably more relaxed. The secular music in particular shares in that plasticity of line and form that seems peculiarly Flemish. Certainly the songs are first-rate, sung here with all the intelligence and voluptuousness of the Huelgas Ensemble at their not infrequent best.
Of course Paul Van Nevel would hardly be himself without courting controversy. Each verse of the ballade Vray dieu d’amours adds a voice, progressing from two to the full four voices. In the Credo of the Mass (sung with voices only, like everything else on this disc), the cantus firmus in the bass is doubled at the octave above. Listeners’ reactions to these ploys will doubtless be as idiosyncratic as the choices themselves. The doubling in the Credo pleased me on account of the work’s extraordinarily low scoring, with the bass regularly descending to a bottom C. But Van Nevel’s approach to ornamentation in the songs leaves me unconvinced; on the other hand, even on repeated listening that suspicion hasn’t deepened into irritation, because he defends his sometimes zany notions with considerable charm. Still, I wonder whether he champions relatively unknown composers precisely because their anonymity provides a neutral backdrop for his experiments. Let’s hope that he will soon tackle Obrecht, Isaac and Josquin with similar relish.'