Tómas Luis de Victoria has two Requiem Masses to his credit, a four-part from 1583 and a six-part, published in 1605 under the title Officium Defunctorum. It is this second work with which Philippe Herreweghe is about to make his debut: he only recorded music by De Victoria once before! Herreweghe, however, shows convincingly that this repertoire also sounds like new under his hands. The remarkably
… high tempos, together with the transparency, ensure that the musical lines come out more clearly than ever. Herreweghe shows his enormous musicality in the way he continuously models the whole; you can hear the choir very accurately moving with him in movement, dynamics and expression. This is a great achievement in music that can quickly become too homogeneous and static in other hands. Herreweghe has supplemented this Requiem with a few motets, beautiful but also somewhat prosaic. At the time, Paul McCreesh made the liturgical and historical context of the Requiem clearer by alternating polyphony with Gregorian chant (DBX3671). However, the music of De Victoria is completely central on this CD, and there is something to be said for that, especially when it is sung so beautifully. (TC)more
