Huelgas-ensemble: La Quinta Essentia
Label: Harmonia Mundi Catalog: 901922 Format: CD Composers: Roland de Lassus (1532-1594); Thomas Ashewell (c.1478-ap.1513); Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c.1525-1594) Paul Van Nevel and the Huelgas Ensemble have collected the quintessence of a musical art. Their recording illustrates the three dominant styles of the renaissance: the Roman school, Franco-Flemish polyphony and English late Gothic. The chosen formal framework is the mass, and three of its greatest masters contribute to the programme: Lassus, 'counterpoint on a human scale', Palestrina, 'the path of transcendence' and Ashewll, 'the irresistible appeal of virtuoso ornamentation'. A whole world created in sound. |