Album

Celestial music and a celestial performance: Paul McCreesh's ingenious construction of a Mass for the Feast of St. Iisidore of Seville, as it might have been celebrated in Toledo Cathedral around 1590, deserves to be called a resplendent sonic and spiritual feast. Realizing that authenticity in performance is an ideal, McCreesh instead focuses, as Dorothea Schroder explained in the liner notes, "that romanticizing, subjectively influenced beauty of sound against which the champions of authentic performance practice had been crusading for decades." Indeed, McCreesh has said that what is termed authentic can only be imagined. In this case, his creative imagination is inspired by the sacred music of sixteenth century Spain. In order to create the experience of attending a mass in 1590, McCreesh chose the Missa "Mille regretz" by Cristóbal de Morales, interspersing it with Gregorian chant and instrumental pieces by various contemporary composers. The effect is magnificent. Beautifully performed by the Gabrieli Consort and Players, the music instantly and without warning takes the listener to the passionate, distant, spellbinding world of Spanish Catholic spirituality. Played flawlessly on period instruments, including recorders, cornets, shawms, and sackbuts, the instrumental pieces bring to mind a rich tapestry of warm colors and finely sculpted sonic forms. The choral singing has resplendent, finely wrought contours of religious feeling presented within the opulent harmonic architecture of seemingly inexhaustible forms against the background of a discreet play of melodic lights and shadows. McCreesh is truly magisterial as he molds the fluid choral structure, knowing exactly when to indicate the moments when contemplation yields illumination, moments brought to the listener by an unmistakable, plangent, and soulful presence of the falsetto voices.

© Zoran Minderovic, All Music Guide

CD 1
Francisco Guerrero Composer Cançión (a6) Work Gabrieli Consort and Players Ensemble, Paul McCreesh Conductor
1	Cançión (a6)	2:44			$0.99
Philippe Rogier Composer Ecce sacerdos magnus, for 5 voices Work Gabrieli Consort and Players Ensemble, Paul McCreesh Conductor
2	Ecce sacerdos magnus, for 5 voices	2:07			$0.99
Philippe Rogier Composer Cançión à 6 (Lerma, Achive of San Pedro, Ms. Mus. 1, fol. 103v-104r (no.71)) Work Gabrieli Consort and Players Ensemble, Paul McCreesh Conductor
3	Cançión à 6 (Lerma, Achive of San Pedro, Ms. Mus. 1, fol. 103v-104r (no.71))	1:49			$0.49
Antonio de Cabezón Composer Tiento del quinto ton Work Timothy Roberts Organ, Paul McCreesh Conductor
4	Tiento del quinto ton	1:15			$0.49
Plainchant Composer In medio ecclesiae, introit Work Gabrieli Consort Chorus/Choir, Paul McCreesh Conductor
5	In medio ecclesiae, introit	3:11			$0.99
Cristobal de Morales Composer Missa 'Mille regretz' (a6) Work 9:53 Gabrieli Consort Chorus/Choir, Paul McCreesh Conductor
6	1.Kyrie	5:30			$0.99
7	2.Gloria	4:23			$0.99
Plainchant Composer Dominus vobiscum ... Deus, qui populo tuo, oratio Work Simon Grant Soloist, Gabrieli Consort Chorus/Choir, Paul McCreesh Conductor
8	Dominus vobiscum ... Deus, qui populo tuo, oratio	1:09			$0.49
Antonio de Cabezón Composer Tiento del quarto ton Work Timothy Roberts Organ, Paul McCreesh Conductor
9	Tiento del quarto ton	1:29			$0.49
Plainchant Composer Lectio Epistolae beati Pauli Apostoli ad Timotheum (2 Tm. 4: 1-2, 6-8) Work Gabrieli Consort Chorus/Choir, Charles Pott Soloist, Paul McCreesh Conductor
10	Lectio Epistolae beati Pauli Apostoli ad Timotheum (2 Tm. 4: 1-2, 6-8)	1:54			$0.49
Francisco Guerrero Composer Cançión 'Subiendo amor' (a5) Work Gabrieli Consort and Players Ensemble, Paul McCreesh Conductor
11	Cançión 'Subiendo amor' (a5)	1:08			$0.49
Francisco Guerrero Composer Cançión 'Todos aman' (a5) Work Gabrieli Consort and Players Ensemble, Paul McCreesh Conductor
12	Cançión 'Todos aman' (a5)	1:15			$0.49
Plainchant Composer Dominus vobiscum ... Sequentia sancti Evangelii secundum Matthaeum (Mi. 5: 13-16) Work Julian Clarkson Soloist, Gabrieli Consort Chorus/Choir, Paul McCreesh Conductor
13	Dominus vobiscum ... Sequentia sancti Evangelii secundum Matthaeum (Mi. 5: 13-16)	2:00			$0.99
Cristobal de Morales Composer Missa 'Mille regretz' (a6) Work Gabrieli Consort Chorus/Choir, Paul McCreesh Conductor
14	3.Credo	8:59			$1.49
Antonio de Cabezón Composer Tiento del octavo ton Work Timothy Roberts Organ, Paul McCreesh Conductor
15	Tiento del octavo ton	1:04			$0.49
Francisco Guerrero Composer O Doctor optime (a6) Work Gabrieli Consort and Players Ensemble, Gabrieli Consort Chorus/Choir, Paul McCreesh Conductor
16	O Doctor optime (a6)	3:40			$0.99
Plainchant Composer Per omnia saecula saeculorum ... Vere dignum et justum est Work Simon Grant Soloist, Gabrieli Consort Chorus/Choir, Paul McCreesh Conductor
17	Per omnia saecula saeculorum ... Vere dignum et justum est	3:10			$0.99
Cristobal de Morales Composer Missa 'Mille regretz' (a6) Work Gabrieli Consort Chorus/Choir, Paul McCreesh Conductor
18	4.Sanctus	5:29			$0.99
Nicolas Gombert Composer Mille regretz (a6) Work Gabrieli Consort and Players Ensemble, Paul McCreesh Conductor
19	Mille regretz (a6)	2:48			$0.99
Plainchant Composer Per omnia saecula saeculorum ... Pater noster Work Simon Grant Soloist, Gabrieli Consort Chorus/Choir, Paul McCreesh Conductor
20	Per omnia saecula saeculorum ... Pater noster	2:14			$0.99
Cristobal de Morales Composer Missa 'Mille regretz' (a6) Work Gabrieli Consort Chorus/Choir, Paul McCreesh Conductor
21	5.Agnus Dei	6:57			$0.99
Gregorian Chant Composer Fidelis Servus Work Gabrieli Consort Chorus/Choir, Paul McCreesh Conductor
22	Fidelis Servus	1:07			$0.49
Plainchant Composer Dominus vobiscum ... Ut nobis, Domine Work Simon Grant Soloist, Gabrieli Consort Chorus/Choir, Paul McCreesh Conductor
23	Dominus vobiscum ... Ut nobis, Domine	1:06			$0.49
Plainchant Composer Ita missa est Work Simon Grant Soloist, Gabrieli Consort Chorus/Choir, Paul McCreesh Conductor
24	Ita missa est	0:50			$0.49
Philippe Rogier Composer Cançión à 6 (Lerma, Achive of San Pedro, Ms. Mus. 1, fol. 93v-94r (no.61)) Work Gabrieli Consort and Players Ensemble, Paul McCreesh Conductor
25	Cançión à 6 (Lerma, Achive of San Pedro, Ms. Mus. 1, fol. 93v-94r (no.61))	1:50			$0.49
Thomás de Santa María Composer Del modo de tañer a corcheas Work Timothy Roberts Organ, Paul McCreesh Conductor
26	Del modo de tañer a corcheas	0:51			$0.49
Cristobal de Morales Composer Emendemus in melius (a5) Work Gabrieli Consort Chorus/Choir, Paul McCreesh Conductor
27	Emendemus in melius (a5)	6:10			$0.99