Lasso: Hymns / Die Singphoniker

Die Singphoniker

CPO 777751

Now we finally once again have something new from »Die Singphoniker« for the cpo listening audience – hymns by Orlando di Lasso! This renowned German vocal ensemble performing around the globe was founded three decades ago by six singers who were then students at the Munich College of Music. Since late antiquity hymns had played a role in the song of the church, and their rapid spread throughout Christendom owed not least to St. Benedict (ca. 480-ca. 547), who incorporated them into monastery life in the Divine Office. The first polyphonic hymn settings are from the twelfth century. Orlando di Lasso composed his Hymnary of 1580-81 as a commissioned work for Duke Wilhelm V of Bavaria in his capacity as the duke's chapel master and for use at his court. Six motets, some of them of large scope, on hymn texts without the chant form a contrast to the selection from the Hymnary; the omission of the chant means that the entire text is set polyphonically. A lot of space remains for the interpretation of the text, which was always a top priority in Lasso's music. When Lasso's hymns tied to a cantus firmus are compared with his motets on hymn texts, the great mastery and especially the great compositional imagination with which he set identical texts in completely different ways once again powerfully convey themselves to the listener.

CD x 1

CPO

2012-11-26

761203775125