Sweelinck: Psaumes francais and Canciones Sacrae

EAC | FLAC, CUE | 61:33 | 347 MB

Harmonia Mundi |Nov 10, 2009 | Cover

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Composer, organist, organ builder and teacher of international renown, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck was known in his own time as the ‘Orpheus of Amsterdam'. Among his significant contributions to Franco-Flemish polyphony, one finds both psalms in French which closely follow the dictates of the Reformation and sacred vocal works in Latin, among which the Magnificat is outstanding.

The program is divided evenly between Calvinist psalms in French and Catholic motets in Latin. The former were polyphonic elaborations of Louis Bourgeois’ tunes for the Genevan metrical psalms of Marot and de Bèze. The French translations were already familiar, since the settings of Goudimel and Lejeune were known in Amsterdam, while the Dutch translations made poor poetry and hence were not favored for singing. Six of these psalms are sung here, mingled with four Latin motets (only one of them a psalm) published in Antwerp in 1619. We hear groups of psalms, then cantiones, then more psalms, concluding with a Te Deum, the longest work on the program.

The annotator suggests that, after Sweelinck converted to Calvinism, he had no hard feelings toward his former faith. This program shows how sensitively he could set the Latin texts, for the penitential De profundis and the ecstatic Magnificat exemplify an awareness of the varied moods, even down to details of text setting. For the French psalms, he respected the Calvinist emphasis on simple text declamation, preserving not only the Bourgeois tunes but also clarity in their polyphonic elaboration. Richard Marlow recorded the complete Cantiones sacrae (23:1), as did Timothy Brown at the same time, but his collection of psalms (16:2) included none of these selections. It would seem that someone might record the complete psalms, published in four books between 1604 and 1621 (the last posthumously). Would it fill as many as a dozen CDs?

Reuss, who is better known on this label with the RIAS Kammerchor, has spent much more time with the present ensemble than in Berlin, nearly two decades during which this ensemble, already two decades old, achieved professional status. Its 18 members demonstrate fine ensemble and tonal suavity. The choice of works offers a broad perspective on the composer’s choral music, still less familiar on records than his keyboard music. As a sampler, then, this is an excellent start toward familiarity with the “Orpheus of Amsterdam.”

tracklist:

Psalm 33, "Resveillez vous, chascun fidele"
Psalm 91, "Qui en la garde du haut Dieu"
Psalm 130, "Du fonds de ma pensee"
De profundis clamavi ad te Domine
Magnificat anima mea Dominum
Beati pauperes spiritu
Psalm 77, "A Dieu ma voix j'ay haussee"
Psalm 42, "Ainsi qu'on oit le cerf bruire"
Psalm 146, "Sus mon ame, qu'on benie le Souverain"
Te Deum laudamus

Cappella Amsterdam
Conductor: Daniel Reuss

I'm beginning here to resurrect some of the works that "disappeared" from Avax or were "abandoned" from the original uploaders. There's not a real thought behind it, I'm just cleaning up my HDs and following the wind. What I downloaded long ago is flowing back. All credits go to the first uploader. Enjoy...