No one seems to be certain just what is meant by the title Ad placitum (“as it pleases”). At all events, Claude Le Jeune’s only extant Mass (he was a Protestant) appears to be freely composed (in contrast to the then near-universal practice of ‘parody’), and is scored for a wide variety of combinations from two to seven voices; in addition, the Credo is in a different mode from the other movements. A curious work, then, but one whose richness of invention is immediately appealing. Le Jeune sometimes makes use of the syllabic style of word-setting (vers mesure) that he evolved for his French-texted music (the “Et in Spiritum” section of the Credo illustrates this nicely, and the occasional touches of chromaticism are reminiscent of Lassus). But elsewhere he reverts to what must have seemed at the time a fairly archaic style (here, the beginning of the splendid Sanctus springs to mind).
The Clement Janequin Ensemble have visited Le Jeune before, more than a dozen years ago. Once again they use a mixed ensemble, consisting of voices, viols and theorbo and organ. Their earlier recording was of secular music, but this form of performance is not often applied to sacred music nowadays (though the composer’s contemporaries refer to it approvingly). One can only welcome a performance that shows how effective this practice must have been: the relationship between voices and instruments is carefully thought through and this, combined with the graceful ornamentation on the lute, gives the proceedings a distinctly chamber feeling. This is emphasized by the recording, which strikes me, however, as the least satisfactory aspect of the disc. It sounds distinctly thin in the extreme registers, resulting in a boxed-in, almost muffled sonority (in the Magnificat I wondered whether various sections had been miked differently). That has unfortunate effects, especially when the countertenors are heard to strain (a more frequent occurrence than one might have hoped); on other occasions the sense of ensemble, too, is not quite neat (at the beginning of the Sanctus, for instance). But set against the music, these reservations should neither deter the curious nor dismay the cognoscenti. Le Jeune isn’t recorded much, but the Janequin Ensemble will convince you that he ought to be.'