The Choir of Westminster Cathedral, James O'Donnell - Tomas Luis de Victoria: Missa Dum complerentur (1996) Reissue 2011

Hyperion expand their on-going tribute to Victoria with the motet Dum complerentur and its ‘parody’ Mass, each movement beginning with the motet’s opening contours, and its glorious cascading ‘Alleluia’, the prototype for the exultant ‘Amens’ of the Gloria and Credo. The Westminster voices, especially those of the boys, ardent in their enthusiasm, are well suited to this contrapuntal aspect of Victoria. The ‘Reproaches’ for Holy Week are outstandingly effective, two choirs contrasting in size and distance. Within the cathedral tradition, I really can’t imagine better choral singing than this. The Magnificat ensemble is also stunning. Despite the intonation challenge of singing two-to-a-part, their 13 mixed voices blend as if a single instrument. This particularly suits the stately pace of Victoria’s Mass for the Dead, chords melting seamlessly one into the next. The Mass is put into the context of the complete Office, with opening and closing motets and plainchant, here sung in the measured note-values which some scholarship supports. The result is an almost constant pulse throughout the (albeit rather ungenerous) 52 minutes: a hypnotically gripping experience. Only Hampstead traffic mars this wonderful disc – the rumble is intolerable through headphones, though the ‘ambience’ is acceptable otherwise.

Review by George Pratt, BBC Music Magazine

Westminster Cathedral Choir continue to make their special contribution to the music of Tomás Luis de Victoria with this recording of his Missa Dum complerentur and other works, including a number of hymn settings - works that have so often been overlooked in the past. The Mass, for Pentecost, is based on Victoria's own motet; he adds an extra voice in the parody Mass setting and draws much on the opening material of the motet as well as its distinctive "Alleluia" Sections which ring out like a peal of bells - especially in this excellent performance. Indeed, the motet is finely conceived, with Victoria characteristically responding to the imagery of the text with changes of texture and pacing within the essentially contrapuntal idiom: a true master. If the text of the Ordinary of the Mass afforded fewer opportunities for word-painting, this clearly offered no challenge to Victoria at either the level of invention or sense of overall structure.

The choir, with its full-bodied sound and wellsustained vocal lines, has, over long years of tradition in singing this particular part of the repertory, achieved an almost intuitive feel for the flow of the music, which is perhaps as near as we'll ever get today to the authentic situation of professional church singers in Rome or the Spanish cathedrals in the sixteenth century. What we'll never know is whether the sonority - in particular the timbre of the boys' voices (commonly described as 'continental' although more, I suspect, in opposition to the treble sound developed at King's College, Cambridge, than based on the reality of choirs on the continent) resembles anything Victoria might have heard. The boys have, perhaps, become slightly less punchy in recent years, but still have that distinctive focus and intensity of tone, as is well illustrated by the two Holy Week settings on the disc: the homophonic Popule mucus and the hymn Vexilla regis prodeunt. This, and the two Pentecost hymns, are performed in alternatim with alternate verses in plainchant and polyphony - this structure probably accounting for current neglect of a musical genre of much greater importance in the renaissance. Once again, this is a superb and compelling disc that adds to our knowledge and appreciation of Victoria's art.

Review by Gramophone

Exact Audio Copy V1.1 from 23. June 2015

EAC extraction logfile from 21. August 2016, 3:17

Westminster Cathedral Choir, James O'Donnell / Victoria - Missa Dum complerentur & Motets

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foobar2000 1.2 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2016-09-05 14:42:39

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: Westminster Cathedral Choir, James O'Donnell / Victoria - Missa Dum complerentur & Motets
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR12 -0.40 dB -20.53 dB 3:21 01-Veni Sancte Spiritus
DR14 -3.35 dB -21.63 dB 6:58 02-Dum complerentur
DR14 -5.25 dB -23.54 dB 3:36 03-Missa Dum complerentur - 1. Kyrie
DR14 -3.12 dB -22.85 dB 6:52 04-Missa Dum complerentur - 2. Gloria
DR16 -2.66 dB -23.38 dB 8:58 05-Missa Dum complerentur - 3. Credo
DR14 -4.09 dB -23.93 dB 3:13 06-Missa Dum complerentur - 4. Sanctus
DR13 -4.68 dB -23.44 dB 2:22 07-Missa Dum complerentur - 5. Benedictus
DR13 -4.82 dB -23.17 dB 4:23 08-Missa Dum complerentur - 6. Agnus Dei
DR13 -3.62 dB -23.19 dB 5:06 09-Popule meus
DR13 -1.64 dB -22.27 dB 8:41 10-Vexilla Regis
DR13 -6.06 dB -25.48 dB 6:17 11-Veni Creator Spiritus
DR14 -4.70 dB -24.05 dB 6:34 12-Pange lingua gloriosi
DR12 -1.44 dB -20.02 dB 3:34 13-Lauda Sion Salvatorem
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

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Bitrate: 552 kbps
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