Ockeghem: Missa Cuiusvis Toni (2007)

At first glance, Aeon's two-CD set Johannes Ockeghem: Missa Cuiusvis Toni seems like it has to be the longest recording of a renaissance mass in the history of mankind, and one wonders what wealth of additional material would be in play to stretch a single mass setting out to fill two discs. A quick explanation would be that Lucien Kandel's Ensemble Musica Nova is a group that specializes in divining hidden extended works from the mostly relatively short pieces in medieval and renaissance sources. A good example is the disc ... Read More

At first glance, Aeon's two-CD set Johannes Ockeghem: Missa Cuiusvis Toni seems like it has to be the longest recording of a renaissance mass in the history of mankind, and one wonders what wealth of additional material would be in play to stretch a single mass setting out to fill two discs. A quick explanation would be that Lucien Kandel's Ensemble Musica Nova is a group that specializes in divining hidden extended works from the mostly relatively short pieces in medieval and renaissance sources. A good example is the disc-long exploration of Dufay's motet Flos florum for Zig Zag Territories, which places the work in the context of several other related pieces owing to a shared use of cantus firmus. In this instance, not one Ockeghem mass is heard, but four; however, the same source work is used for all. Missa Cuiusvis Toni (Mass in All of the Tones) has some "puzzle" notation elements that introduce variant ideas into the mass setting when sung on differing church modes. Here it is heard on the tones... Read Less