The first disc released by Civic Classics Records, under the leadership of Richard Lyons, in their series A CHOIR OF ANGELS, was the 1995 Compact Disc featuring I Cantori, an ensemble based in the greater Los Angels area (picture above). This series presents ensembles that seek to bring music from the past back to vivid life in performance, while integrating these rediscoveries into the modern context of the eclectic choral program.

Performed by I Cantori, Edward Cansino, Conductor, this recording contains contemporary music from the United States and historic music from Latin America. The recording opens with Fracisco Lopez Capillas' Magnificat, which is followed by works by William Kennerly, Igor Stravinsky and John Cage. Gaspar Fernandes' "Xicochi xicochi conetzintle," and the anonymous "Hanacpachap cussicuinin" are some of the earliest surviving works in the Aztec and Inca languages. Gaspar Fernandes' motet, "Elegit sum," Hernando Franco's, "Sancta Maria" and Tomás Herrera's "Hijos de Eva Tributarios," are the remaining works from Latin America.

The performances are uniformly of a very high quality. Special attention is given to diction and ensemble balance by Edward Cansino. The recorded sound is appropriately reverberant for the Latin American selections. I Cantori are an extremely polished professional vocal ensemble and these performances achieve a very high level of artistry. Though there are other recordings available of some of these individual works, one would be hard pressed to find better performances than these.

Though one wishes that the texts and translations might have been included with this recording, published editions are available of all of the Latin American compositions for those who wish to use this recording in the classroom. One hopes that I Cantori will produce another volume in this series featuring additional music from Latin America.

A Choir of Angels II:

California Mission Music
Zephyr, Paul Gibson, Conductor

The second recording from Civic Classics Records, owned by Richard Lyons, will be the first recording since the 1959 recording by Fr. Juan Thomas of the Coro Hispanico de Mallorca, to include music from Spanish California from the extensive collection brought by Alta California's preeminent musician, Fray Juan Bautista Sancho. The theme of the recording, that of Journey, blends pieces from Baroque Mexico with those surviving from California. William Summers was contacted by Paul Gibson in his search for musical materials from Spanish California, and served in an advisory capacity to the ensemble.

Contemporary arrangements of some of the historic, hauntingly simple settings of vernacular pieces, such as the 'Alabado' and the 'Cantico del alba,' reflect Zephyr's contemporary response to this music as revived devotion. Continental classicizing tendencies are heard in the 1796 Mass of the Fifth Tone, brought from the Convento de San Francisco, Palma, Mallorca, to California by Juan Sancho in 1804. One also glimpses the musical continuity in the daily life in California by comparing the music of the folk song "La noche esta serena" with that of the "Salve Regina". In all, there are twenty tracks, ranging from a Magnificat by Francisco Lopez Capillas to a Cahuilla chant.

By illumining the musical past through performance and creative new arrangements, Zephyr continue not only the mission of the series A CHOIR OF ANGELS, but they also re-introduce a whole new generation of Californians to the remarkable musical legacy of their Spanish past. The forthcoming release of this new compact disc from Civic Classics is hopefully another successful milestone in the revival of the musical past of the Americas. One has to vigorously applaud the foresight of Richard Lyons, Paul Gibson and Zephyr for taking this bold step. Both recordings in this series can be obtained by calling 800-39-ANGEL.

Baroque Music from the Bolivian Rainforest

Piotr Nawrot , Conductor

This remarkable recording, like Mexican Baroque, produced in 1994 by Chanticleer, reflects the remarkable results of the commingling of research and performance. Fr. Piotr Nawrot, D. M. A., presents on this recording not only beautifully illuminating performances, but also music that for most of us will be completely new. His reconstruction of Vespers music for Choir, Soloists and Chamber Orchestra brings together 19 numbers . They were published in score and parts by Fr. Nawrot as Música de vísperas en las reducciones de Chiquitos--Boliva (1691-1767), 1994, Archivo Musical Chiquitos, Concepción, Bolivia, i-xxxii,1-334, 4 instrumental parts. [The score, parts and this recording can be obtained by writing the Divine Word Missionaries, P. O. Box 6039, Techny, IL 60082-6009, or by telephone: (847) 272-7600.]
 
 

The selections are not from a particular service encountered in the archives of Fuflo de Chávez, Concepción, Bolivia, but are assembled for this performance by Fr. Nawrot principally on stylistic grounds. Three items, the Invitatory, a "Dixit Dominus" (Ps. 110), and the hymn "Jesu Corona Virginum," are by Domenico Zippoli. The other items are anonymous (see listing below).

The recording was made during two live performances that took place in 1995 to mark the centenary of the construction of Holy Spirit Church of the Divine Word Missionaries, Techny, Illinois. The Cathedral Singers, Richard Proulx, Music Director, and the Symphony of the Shores Chamber Players were conducted by Fr. Nawrot. Both ensembles perform with remarkable clarity and an energetic and informed sense of style. The soloists, drawn from the Cathedral Singers, sing with clarity and assurance.

The most striking and engaging feature of this liturgical reconstruction is the remarkable diversity and ingenuity of the musical ideas found in the various compositions A juxtaposition of the opening Invitatory by Zipoli with the modest but ever so evocative anonymous concluding "Salve Regina," immediately demonstrates the range of both the musical ideas that are revealed here and also the scope of the influence of sacred text upon the composers working in the rain forests of colonial Bolivia. Both works are emblems of the remarkable musical culture that flourished in this remote region of the Spanish Empire, and also of the response indigenous peoples made in their devotional life as newly-minted Christians.

Surprisingly, one also hears this music today with new ears just as those who heard it for the first time must have. We must marvel at it, since it hasn't seen the light of live performance in over two hundred years. Our setting and time are different but the novel effect of this music and of these very fine performances is particularly engaging and elevating. One can only hope that this is the beginning of a movement on the part of Fr. Nawrot and the Chicago Province of the Divine Word Missionaries to bring this remarkable music to the ears of modern listeners, and into churches around the world as re-vivified prayer and devotion.
 

Lost Treasures of New Spain: Baroque Danzas and Bailes from the Joseph Maria Garcia Manuscript of 1772.

New World Baroque Orchestra.

John Warren, Director

The announcement of this new release comes from the September issue of the American Recorder, in an article by Eric Greening. Of particular interest to Hispanicists will be the inclusion on this disc of arrangements made of instrumental works found in the famous Eleanor Hague Manuscript [Joseph Maria Garcia Manuscript] now in the Braun Research Library of the Southwest Museum, Los Angeles. Containing 298 melodies, 72 accompanied by choreographic instructions, this manuscript was owned in 1772 by Garcia, purchased by Joseph Gonzales in 1790 and eventually acquired in Mexico by Eleanor Hague.

Those familiar with the research of Professor Craig Russell will be aware of his work on this manuscript. Director John Warren credits Russell with providing research materials for his editions from this manuscript that were utilized in the recording. One of the editions made by Nancy Koren, of a dance titled "La Bascanbur," [# 86 in the manuscript] is published along with the story.

Warren was anxious to find a natural acoustic for this music which would compliment and enhance its impact. This led him to record in a remote, neo-colonial chapel at Chapel Hill near Paso Robles, California. Though the contents of the recording were not detailed in the feature article, those interested in acquiring this CD from Eriador Records may contact them at 805-927-3297.

All Souls' Vespers: Requiem Music from Córdoba Cathedral, circa 1570, Orchestra of the Renaissance, Richard Cheetham, Virgin Veritas 45203, 58 minutes 

A useful vehicle for the performance and recording of early religious music is liturgical recreation, in which works from one or more repertories are placed in a context that might have included them during the period. Singing a polyphonic Mass Ordinary, for example, with the chants and polyphonic works in a service that would have accompanied, it gives a modern listener a much better idea of the musical and religious effect of that work in its period. Releases in the area of Spanish Renaissance music in the last year have included two fine liturgical recreations by groups that follow the sixteenth-century Spanish traditions of extensive instrumental participation in polyphonic worship music.

The Gabrieli Consort and Players have issued an attractive disc that recreates a Mass for the feast day of St. Isidore that might have been celebrated at Toledo Cathedral around 1590. The feast falls on April 4, and would have been a major Lenten celebration at Toledo Cathedral in a year with a late Easter. The reconstruction of this presumed occasion is the work of Douglas Kirk, noted Hispanist and member of the Gabrieli Consort, and Robert Snow, who lent the project his expertise on Spanish chant and liturgical practices. Their scholarship is translated luminously to disc by the all-male choir and six wind players of the Gabrieli Consort and Players,

directed by Paul McCreesh, and organist Timothy Roberts. The Gabrieli Consort and Players deserve the reputation they have in the early music community: one could only hope the Feast of St. Isidore might have sounded like this in about 1590!

The Mass is a combination of several musical repertories. The major polyphonic work is Morales's famed Missa "Mille regretz." The Gabrieli Consort sings with nearly perfect intonation and lovely blend. The text is hard to follow, mostly because of the room's resonance, but the overall sound is glorious. A useful comparison exists between this disc and Chanticleer's Morales collection (Chanticleer Records 8809). Both are entirely worthy, with Chanticleer's possibly a bit clearer in sound, but not in liturgical context. Both discs also include the celebrated motet "Emendemus in melius".

The chant segments on the disc, sung rhythmically from an edition by Robert Snow, are rendered beautifully by the "celebrant," Simon Grant, other soloists, and the choir. The Gabrieli Players, an ensemble of cornetts, shawms, dulcians, sackbuts, and recorders, bring to life here the rich world of the Spanish wind band, used often in Spanish cathedrals. Since this is a Lenten Mass they do not accompany the singers, but they do play independent works like processional and recessional music, including pieces by Francisco Guerrero, Philippe Rogier, and Nicolas Gombert. Timothy Roberts also plays keyboard works by Antonio de Cabezón and Tomás de Santa María. You are unlikely to hear the instrumental music on this disc played better, with uncanny intonation and ensemble.

Another lovely recreation is a possible All Souls' vespers from Córdoba Cathedral from about 1570, played and sung by the fine Orchestra of Renaissance Spain, directed by Richard Cheetham. Included are seven excellent voices and fourteen instrumentalists playing cornetto, shawms, dulcians, sackbuts, Spanish harp, chamber organ, bass lute, and Renaissance tabor. All Souls' Day is on November 2, traditionally including a Requiem Mass and Requiem Vespers. In Andalusia, Dominicans started practices in some places for the day that included as many as three Requiem Masses. Included here are chant and polyphonic pieces by Nicolas Gombert, Juan Ginés Pérez, Rodrigo de Ceballos, Josquin Desprez, Juan Vásquez, Cristóbal de Morales, Francisco Guerrero, and Antonio de Cabezón. It is a tantalizing combination of Spanish and northern European music, especially appropriate for Córdoba Cathedral, not only because northern music was known in Spain, but also because of the popularity of northern music there during the tenure of Archbishop Leopold of Austria (1540-57), son of Emperor Maximilian I.

"Je prens congie" by Gombert is played by the instruments as a processional. The ensemble's tone and intonation are simply amazing, captured beautifully in the live acoustic of St. Mary's Church in Orford, Suffolk, England. The combination of voices and instruments is stunning wherever it occurs, including especially in the Magnificat by Morales.

These are outstanding discs that add substantially to our understanding of the contexts of these repertories in Spain in the second half of the sixteenth century.

Forthcoming Recordings:

New Treasures from Mexico's Past:

Chanticleer's recording of Jerusalem's
"Matins for the Virgin of Guadalupe"
by Craig H. Russell  

For those of you who love Mexican Cathedral music, prepare yourself for a new compact disk that should be appearing at your local record shops this coming February. Last July, Chanticleer and the Chanticleer Philharmonia, under the direction of Joe Jennings, recorded the Matins for the Virgin of Guadalupe (1764) for Teldec Classics at George Lucas's Skywalker Ranch just north of San Francisco. It was an outgrowth of a project that Louis Botto, Joe Jennings and I had decided to undertake two years ago. It all began when Louis and I were talking over various aspects of Jerusalem's music during our collaboration on the compact disk Mexican Baroque, that turned out to be a spectacular success.

I had mentioned to Louis that there were stacks of large-scale compositions in Mexican cathedrals that were ready to be roused from their sleep as revived, "living" musical pieces. During the years that followed, our conversations led us repeatedly back to one composition in particular that fascinated me: the Matins for the Virgin of Guadalupe (1764) by the Mexico City Chapel Master, Ignacio de Jerusalem. The performance parts and scores of various snippets were preserved in a jumble of separate folders and choirbooks in the Mexico City Cathedral.

Although no single score of the "complete work" existed, the clues hinted to me that it was probably one of the more monumental and elaborate choral works in the history of the New World. In spite of its importance, it had escaped notice by twentieth-century historians. There was no mention of it published anywhere. In a certain sense, you might say that it "didn't even exist," yet there it sat, the proverbial diamond-in-the-rough.

You can imagine my ecstasy, therefore, when Louis called me two years ago, and said, "Craig, let's do it! You reconstruct it; we'll record it and take it on tour." So we embarked on another collaboration that is even more ambitious, thrilling, and delightful than the last compact disk, and two concert tours of Jerusalem's complete Matins for the Virgin of Guadalupe. We performed it for seven concerts in California missions and venues in the San Francisco Bay Area last June, and will take it on tour of southern California, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, and Mexico in late April and early May of 1998.

The sticky task of gluing it back together has taken a couple of years, numerous trips to Mexico, and more photographs and rolls of microfilm than I care to count. Of course, you are probably wondering what makes Jerusalem's Matins for the Virgin of Guadalupe important or worthy enough for a revival. What is it like? Quite simply, it is fabulous! It is a glorious gem in the choral literature that resembles in scale, magnificence, and grandeur the operas of Alessandro Scarlatti, oratorios of Handel, or larger cantatas of Bach. It is chockfull of varied styles, differing emotions, and multifarious moods.

The main corpus of the composition features the full choir with orchestral accompaniment, and the styles run the gamut. The hymn "Quem terra pontus sidera" wafts along in a lilting 6/8 meter and conjures up images of pastoral tranquillity. What a shift we hear in the ensuing "Vidi speciosam sicut columbam," an energetic and intense choral number in G-minor, Jerusalem's favorite key for intensely emotional and heartfelt feelings. The chord progressions march forward in inexorable activity, resembling Bach's harmonic language and the irrepressible activity of the Baroque. Later Jerusalem explores the grace of an aristocratic minuet in "Signum magnum apparuit in coelo," with its interplay of contrasting rhythms that remind one more of Mozart and the Classic than of Bach and the Baroque.

In addition to the choral numbers, some entire movements feature a solo voice with orchestral accompaniment much like an operatic aria. Jerusalem provides tender introspection in the alto's "Quae est ista quae progreditur," bold self-confidence in the bass's "Quae est ista quae ascendit," lyrical virtuosity in the soprano's "Tibi cherubim," heart-stopping leaps with daring chromatic inflections in the soprano's "Te ergo quaesumus," and melodious yet flamboyant drama in the tenor's "Beatam me dicent omnes generationes."

One of the piece's strongest sections is the concluding Te Deum that juxtaposes two choirs in intertwining dialogue while the clarion trumpets and strings create a thrilling background texture of quasi-military excitement. The work has unexpected treats as well, such as the Psalm settings in plainchant with monophonic antiphons that frame them.

Joe and I have selected some of the orchestral versos that I collected in Mexico to interpolate into some of the Psalm settings (which was the norm). Whereas European instrumental composers concentrated on sonatas and symphonies, the Mexican artists devoted considerable attention to these versos, brief orchestral symphonies for liturgical use. We even include the "Lessons," brief dramatic readings that can really weave a tale or move the soul. Several of Jerusalem's responsories in his Matins for the Virgin of Guadalupe have a theatrical flare, which is not surprising given that he was the music director at the Coliseo, Mexico City's version of Broadway. One will also hear occasional passages that feature the violins in florid figurations and catchy motives; here again, we see Jerusalem's personal touch. He was a virtuoso violinist, and he enjoyed being in the spotlight. One could assume that Jerusalem conducted the work's premiere, not from the organ bench as Sumaya would have done, but as the orchestra's concert-master and principal violinist.

In short, the piece is rich, varied, and absolutely splendid. Add to that the excitement of producing a major composition from our own hemisphere that has not been heard in two centuries--truly, this will be an historic event. All told, this will be a recording project and a concert tour to be remembered. We hope to see you at the concerts if you are in Mexico or the American Southwest! And do look for the CD in February or March; Chanticleer's performance is so thrilling it just might give you goose bumps.
 
 

by G. Grayson Wagstaff  
 

The Gabrieli Consort and Players are preparing a new release on compact disc that should be of interest to all fans of Spanish music. Their new project, entitled A Requiem for Philip II, will include Cristóbal de Morales' invitatory Circumdederunt me, his five-voice setting of the Mass for the Dead and several appropriate funerary motets by sixteenth-century Spanish composers. The group, lead by Paul McCreesh, has already made a name for itself in performance of Spanish music with their previous release, Victoria: Requiem and Officium defunctorum, 1605 (DG Archiv, 447 095-2). The new release should be available in 1998 and will also be through DG Archiv.

Mr. McCreesh has a stated goal of including the appropriate chants to create a context for the polyphonic music. Along these lines, this recording of Morales' Mass will allow listeners the opportunity to get a better understanding of how the polyphonic items would have been understood in the service alongside the items sung in monophonic chant. To create this context, McCreesh has sought out various scholars In this endeavor to find appropriate monophonic sources from Spain and Latin America, giving his recordings an unusual depth in historical awareness of sixteenth-century practices. I am only the most recent in a fairly extensive list of Hispanicists that the Consort has consulted on various projects.

This particular undertaking is very significant because it presents, for the first time known to this author, Morales' Circumdederunt as the invitatory for Matins for the Dead, meaning that the antiphon is placed in Its proper relationship to the invitatory Psalm "Venite Exsultemus" and not just presented as a free standing "motet" as it was included in the Opera Omnia of Morales' works. There are a number of CDs and older recordings that present Morales' much more widely disseminated invitatory Regem cui omnia with the Psalm "Venite". However, the few recordings that include Circumdederunt only include the antiphon, thereby destroying the form that the piece was Intended to have in its place in the service.

The existence of this work and how it would have been used in the sixteenth century Is one example of how complex the issue of recreating liturgical music is. The Circumdederunt is one work known to have been performed in exequies in 1559 in Mexico City to honor the death of Charles V. These commemorations included a number of other polyphonic works, several of which are mentioned in an account of the services. But no liturgical books surviving in Mexico describe when this particular chant was to replace the standard invitatory Regem. Indeed, of the dozens of monophonic sources I have surveyed in Spain, only one contains the melody for Circumdederunt as an invitatory. A number of liturgical books do note that specific chants were to be used as "substitutes" to honor the deaths of particularly important people. The Circumdederunt must have been written by Morales to fit some specific local liturgical tradition in which it replaced Regem for a particularly high level person, either within the church or the royal family. Since the work is only known from one surviving copy, in Toledo, the setting must have been used only in very rare circumstances for such local traditions. The fact that one of these existed in Mexico is fascinating given that no liturgical books from the region of Seville mention this text, nor do any of the surviving published liturgical books from Mexico that include this Office. Furthermore, the surviving choirbooks from Mexico City and Puebla do not include any settings of the item, making its use in the 1559 commemoration somewhat difficult to explain.

The goal of this recording project, other than its presentation of polyphonic and monophonic material, is not to recreate any one particular "performance" in honor of Philip II. Instead, the Consort is presenting works known to have been performed during his reign. This approach leaves some room for the creative instincts, given that the Circumdederunt seemingly would not have been used after the time of the promulgation of the reformed Breviary of Plus V, which included only Regem as an appropriate chant for the invitatory. How the promulgation of the reformed liturgy would have affected churches in Spain and Latin America in their day-to-day practices is also difficult to say, since other texts not included in the Breviary were copied in various manuscripts and continued to be used after this time.

By probing these problems and presenting performances of Spanish Renaissance music that more fully incorporate the work of scholars, McCreesh and the Consort are doing a great service to musicologists and our efforts to understand the past. Hopefully, In future projects, the Consort will continue these explorations in Hispanic music. Given the number of possible projects that this approach of recreating services could enlighten, the field is very open for the group to explore a number of different kinds of liturgical projects.