Utopia Triumphans | Huelgas Ensemble, Paul Van Nevel, ... | One of the few essential recordings...

Utopia Triumphans | Huelgas Ensemble, Paul Van Nevel, ... | Utopia very much Triumphans

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Utopia Triumphans

	Utopia Triumphans Huelgas Ensemble, Paul Van Nevel, ... Sony, 1995 average customer review:based on 12 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A greatly expanded Huelgas Ensemble performs here a collection of multivoice works--pieces that are often referred to but, for logistical reasons, rarely performed. Tallis's famous Spem in alium non habui for 40 voices is here, of course; so is the piece that inspired it, Striggio's 40-voice Ecce beatam lucem. Also included are two extraordinary canons: Ockeghem's 36-voice Deo gratias and Josquin's 24-voice Qui habitat--as well as relatively modest pieces for 13 to 16 voices by Porta and Gabrieli. Spem has had livelier performances (try the Tallis Scholars on Gimell), but none of the others have been recorded elsewhere at all, let alone as well as this. You're not likely to hear them in concert, either, so check this disc out. --Matthew Westphal

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One of the few essential recordings of Renassance polyphony

Paul van Nevel and the Heulgas Ensemble convey an intensely intimate yet ultimately powerful impression with this collection of gigantuan polyphonic works of mind boggling contrapunctal complexity. If you thought that some of Bach's four part counterpoint was exceedingly complex then try to get your mind around the fact that here you will find 12 voice, 24 voice - all the way up to 40 voice counterpoint! The audacity of such complexity is infinitely fascinating and utterly hypnotic. Though the mind may boggle in trying to follow the kaleidoscopic display of infinitely complex part writing, these are yet works of just enormous immediacy of emotional and spiritual appeal that makes them a far cry from the academic works they might seem to appear. These works are a testimony to the fact the composers of the Renaissance are every bit the equal of their peers in other arts such as painting and architecture, for in turns of the sheer phenomenal complexity of that these rich works display, the world has never since seen their equal.

The richer sounds of this continental European ensemble in comparison to the relentless purity of English groups is also highly welcome. As usual Paul van Nevel encourages a vocal sound that comes more from the chest giving a darker hued color that also has great expressive warmth. There is no attempt to artificially brighten up the upper registrars by doubling the soprano parts for example. In an age dominated by Cambridge style English cathedral style singing from groups which can sometimes start to sound all the same, it is wonderful to hear a group that dares to occupy so unique and distinctive a sound world as theirs.

The Spem in Alium is a good case in point for the performance here is wonderful and quite unique. As for the claim that this performance of the 'Spem in Alium' is somehow weak, you can safely ignore that. Yes, the Tallis Scholars are still excellent too but there is a place for a less ostentatious and relaxed-intimate 'chamber' approach to this music. The performers even stood forming a circle in church to record these works. Warm and understated poetic intimacy are wonderful virtues that the Huelgas Ensemble always convey in abundance.

In all this is one of the absolutely essential recordings of Renaissance polyphony. It is a must have for anyone who loves fine music and it you only own one recording of Renaissance polyphony this might well be it. It certainly has a firm place on my desert island collection.

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Utopia very much Triumphans

This magnificent recording is sure to delight all lovers of Renaissance a capella performance. The voices come over clearly and brightly with the interplay of parts easily heard in every piece. The information provided with the CD is sufficiently detailed to more than adequately place the pieces within both historical and musical context. Several of the works (Porta's 'Sanctus', Manchicourt's 'Laudate Dominum') are, I think rarely heard but hold their own well with the more frequently heard works Desprez, Ockeghem and Gabrieli. Of particular interest to me is the performance of Striggio's rarely heard forty part motet Ecce beatam lucem. The opportunity to compare and contrast this fine work with Tallis' own (and much performed) forty part motet Spem in alium is greatly enhanced by the performance notes.

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Warning: will cause jaws to gape!

The music and performance are trully breathtaking. When I recieved this disc I was in a bit of a stressed mood. I put it on to provide 'pleasant background music'. My stereo was left a little louder than I usually have it set and the CD player was on Shuffle. Track 3, DesPrez "Qui habitat" randomly came up--within seconds I was breathless because I did not want to breathe and interfere with the music I was floating on! If you are like me when listening to this Album you'll need a handkerchief or a rag of some sort to wipe the drool from your chin!

It's worth the asking price for the Ockeghem offering alone.

Paul van Nevel and the Huelgas Ensemble have nearly achieved "Utopia" with this performance. BRAVO!

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Good, maybe great, but what about the instruments?

This rather idealised "vision" of music from the Renaissance, High Renaissance and Early Baroque is quite magnificent and for anyone who wants to O.D. on the human voice, look no further. This recording will show you what a large bunch of voice can do when provided with suitable music. We have here some of the very largest scaled creations or should I say "musical conceptions"? from pre-Classical times.
The two 40 part motets by Striggio and Tallis are well know, although the Tallis is much better know and now frequently recorded. I think that the Huelgas Ensemble does a great job of bringing these works to life. However, I have a quibble. Spem in Alium includes a basso continuo line. I suppose that this should be performed on one or more organs. We also know that the performance of the Striggio motet also included 8 viols and 8 trombones. Why have these instruments been omitted? The four choir motet by Giovanni Gabrieli only includes on purely vocal choir - the "Cappella" - all the other three choirs should include a single solo voice and large number of cornetti and tromboni - cornetts playing the upper lines of high "choirs", with the lowest line sung by a countertenor or tenor and the low pitches choirs should have a tenor or baritone soloist on the top line and trombones on all the lower lines. Each of the four choirs should have an accompanying basso continuo organ and, perhaps, chitarrone. To perform this work as a purely vocal work was not what the composer intended, expected or even, possibly, imagined. Gabrieli put texts under instrumental lines to help with the cuing of entries and the interpretation of the music.
The Ockeghem Canon for thirty six voices is something special!

Buy this recording in spite of my nit-picking!

I only hope that the newly discovered Missa à 60 voci* by Alessandro Striggio is recorded soon! It was famous in the High Renaissance and we are lucky the score survived!

* No, I am not joking. I said SIXTY! Sixty part counterpoint! How's them apples?

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Well-balanced choral work

I admit I bought two versions of Spem In Alium performed by Huelgas Ensemble and the Tallis Scholars. There are strong and weak points in both of the recordings but what strike me most about the Huelgas' interpretation, like other reviewers covered in this review portion (and I completely agree), is its balanced performance of the piece. I could actually hear the forty voices without "drowning" and outdoing each other, unlike the Tallis Scholars' recording. However, some parts of the choral (I'm referring to Spem only) are kind a bit sloppy and technically inferior as compared to the Tallis Scholars' version. Example of this is in the portion of "ET OMNIA PECCATA HOMINUM" followed by a pause and "IN TRIBULATIONE" where the Tallis Scholars captured it best. The portion "RESPICE" is almost a whisper in the Huelgas' recording while the Scholars' interpretation of it is like Tchaikovsky's cannons in his 1819 (is the date right?) Overture, which in my opinion, is the proper interpretation (it is one of the high points of the piece, by the way) and Huelga misses this one. All in all I will rate the Scholars' performance 4 stars for its technicality and 4 stars to Huelgas' for its balanced performance. I'm just wondering if Alessandro Striggios' 60 part choral "Sanctus" survived will give these fine performers something to look forward to recording. I bet it will make Handel look like a first grader in music!!!

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