Missa Cuiusvis Toni

... because I'm urging you to get, by hook crook or cash down, an expensive pair of CDs on which the same music, a polyphonic mass by Johannes Ockeghem (1420-1497), is performed four times. That's right, the same mass! Missa Cuiusvis Toni, which translates as "Mass in Any Mode". But Ockeghem is no ordinary polyphonist; he's the Newton or Darwin of polyphony, one of the foundational composers of European music. And this is no ordinary mass; it's a mathematical cathedral. Just as a great gothic cathedral welters in complexities, spires and arches and sculpture in every nook, yet astounds the visiter with its unity of grandeur, that's the effect of this music. And once you grasp the intricacy of its structure, you'll surely doubt that it's really possible; it's as if Ockeghem had played musical chess with four mainframe computers and won all four games. The four "tones" or "modes" in this musical vocabulary are derived from the practices of liturgical chant. It will be easiest for a novice in polyphony to understand them by going to a piano or any instrument and playing them as simple scales, but without using the 'black' keys. Play from D to d. That's the protus tone. E to e is the deuterus. F to f is tritus, and G to g is tetradus. As with modern 'major' and 'minor' scales, the difference is in the placement of the half steps. But wait, it's not quite so simple, specially when you introduce the issues of consonance and dissonance implicit in all polyphony. One of the rewards you'll get from buying these CDs is that the notes include an ample and intelligible explanation of matters like modality, solmisation, and the ever-tricky 'ficta,' the flats and sharps that must be inserted in the modal procession of notes. Ockeghem's Missa Cuiusvis Toni places the all the notes on the usual lines and spaces of the musical staff, but it omits the 'clef' sign, meaning that the 'final' note can be interpreted as D, E, F, or G. You WILL be astonished at what results from that simple choice: music of profoundly different emotional color, or affect. Ockeghem was a theologian in music, a thinker of the rationality of Aquinas as well as the mysticism of Eckhart. The order-in-intricacy of this music is essentially an assessment of the Order of the Universe, the Ptolmaic universe with its nested spheres. The fact that it's gloriously beautiful wasn't irrelevant to Ockeghem, either. Earthly beauty reflected Divine beauty in his view. For a listener like me, who has rejected the theology that Ockeghem cherished, it's the beauty of the music that survives, but I think my perception of such beauty is Spinozan. In Ockeghem's mastery of musical "number," I hear the intricacy of physical reality, from quantum to galaxy. So it's in fact the "music of the spheres" after all. Ensemble Musica Nova performs the four versions of Ockeghem's missa two-on-a-part, with women singing the discantus. They do it deliciously -- fine balance of voices, faultless ensemble, faultless tuning even of the crunchy dissonances, and superb linear independence of their four polyphonic voices. They've also managed what few editors and fewer performers have done; that is, they've grappled with the diverse modes and persuasively solved the enigmas. Even if you have the recording of this mass in the 'phrygian' mode of E by The Clerks' Group, or the performance by Capella Alamire, also only in the E mode, you will be astounded by Ensemble Musica Nova's accomplishment, both as singers and as musicologists.

Since i've learnt about the existence of such a Work i have badly desired to find an Ensemble that had recorded it in all the four main Gregorian Modes (Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian and Myxo-Lydian). Immediately after have been known there was, i decided to purchase it, choosing Amazon.uk because i was sure it would have been sent me in a reasonable time. Renaissance Composers are known to have been probably the most technically advanced of all Times, and surely Ockeghem is among the highest "virtuosi" of Renaissance Art of Counterpoint: among his Works the celebre 36-Parts Canonic Motet "Deo Gratia" and the Missa "Prolationum", in which everyone of the four Voice sing in a different Division of Time. This Mass presents a similar challenge, being written in such a way it can be sung in four different Modes resulting harmonious in the same way. The Ensemble "Musica Nova" sung with perfect intonation, deserving us the good surprise female singers for the Soprano part has been called. The only problem with the performance is the use of French pronunciation for Latin, being sometimes annoying. But that's a minor thing, and i personally find difficult to imagine a good CD collection without this one in its rows.

Music of the sublime.... nothing more needs to be said!!!

Well, let me say it in this way: If Dufay, Lassus, Gesualdo, Monteverdi, Charpentier, Vivaldi, and Bach are some of the great masters of the western music, Johannes Ockeghem is their master, and to his right side stands of course the big Desprez. This hierarchy is something that i'm thinking about for few months now, but i was quite hesitant. No more! After listening all this week to this album how can i be hesitant? These 4 missae are at the highest pinacle of the western culture, standing as the only music composition besides the Egyptian sculpture of the first dynasties and some of the literature works of the ancient Near East. This composition is simply monolithic in the most formidable way. It's almost unhuman in its grandeur and unending complexity, every phrase is awe-inspiring, and the complete work leaves you dumb, but much bigger than what you was before. Yes. But i suspect if this was my feeling if the work was performed by other group (pardon for the bad syntax). To my sorrow, most of my Ockeghem recordings are by English groups, and whether those Eglish groups sing English, French, German, Russian, Turkish music, they sounds, oh, so English - at least to my ears. But with the French Musica Nova (who concentrates in their recordings on native composers) we have at last an ensemble that is not just an ensemble, but a group of distinctive individuals, and the result is a rich and colourful tonality, a kind of delicate and natural sensuousness, that injects beauty and life to what can sounds as an arid work. I wish so much that they would give us more from Ockeghem, and i wonder why the Huelgas ensemble don't plunge head and shoulders to his music too. Do every thing to acquire this album.

Listening to four variants of the same mass in succession sounds like the kind of thing which might make you want to gnaw your own leg off. That you can do so and remain engaged as a listener is a testament to the greatness of Johannes Ockeghem as a composer. The name "Missa cuiusvis toni" literally means "mass in whichever tone", because it was created to be sung in any of the four musical modes current at the time. The complexities inherent in the composition, combined with the skill of the ensemble "Musica Nova" (consisting of SATBx2) in rendering such sophisticated pieces which place great demands upon the vocalists, ensure that the hearer does not tire of the seemingly endless variety. I have one criticism of the recording in that the acoustic space used accentuates the hissing of sibilants somewhat, but a judicious adjustment of the equaliser can lessen that. The accompanying booklet takes pains to explain the musical system of the time, "modality", "solmisation" and counterpoint, how this all applies to the mass and the decisions made by the ensemble for this recording. As a musical illiterate this all goes right over my head quite frankly, but kudos to Musica Nova for including this information. The set consists of two discs (the second disc also contains the motet "Intemerata Dei Mater" as a kind of bonus track) in a foldout digipak with booklet in French & English - Latin text of the mass & motet included with translations. One bizarre oddity - some players (I found this with Windows Media Player, but iTunes was OK) read the digitised album & track information on the CDs in Japanese (katakana for O-ke-ge-mu etc.).

音楽には大まかに言って、長調と短調があることはだれでもご存じのはず。当然、有名なメロディを 長調から短調へ、または短調から長調に変えるのは、音楽遊びの常道であります。 有名どころで言えば、さだまさしの関白宣言と関白失脚の関係なぞ、その典型。 ところで、まだ、長調とか短調とかの概念が明確になかったころは、教会などで使われる旋法（詳し いことはネットその他でお調べください）が様々にあり、それにより、音楽が作られてきたことも よく知られているところである。さて、この作曲家オケゲムは作曲家でありながら、数学者のようで もあり、厳密な数学的計算と音楽とが融合した曲を作曲するという面白い人であります。 このミサの曲名であるMissa Cuiusvis Toniとは、「どのような旋法でも演奏できるミサ」の意味であ りますが、このCDではなんと、残された曲の全ての旋法が収められている。したがって、ミサ曲を構 成する、キリエ、グロリア、クレド、サンクトゥス、アニュスデイがそれぞれ４種類異なる旋法で演 奏されているということとなる。残念ながら２枚組なので、キリエを４旋法連続で聞くことはできな いものの、iTuneに取り込めば、それも可能となる。このミサ曲は以前、別のグループがフリギアン モード全曲（ミが基音）と、キリエ、アニュスデイのみ、ミクソリディアンモードで演奏している CDを出しておりますが、全曲というのは初めて。 Missa Cuiusvis Toni / Missa Quinti Toni 聞くところによれば、当時の楽譜は今のようにフラットやシャープが楽譜に書き込まれているわけで はなかったことから、この曲では見た目は同じ楽譜を使って、違う演奏をするという恐るべき方法が とられていたとも聞きます。加えてメロディの旋法のみを変えるのは、誰でもできますが、これがす ごいのは合唱の各声部が同様に旋法が変わること。そのような技巧的な手法を使いつつ、曲としては 実験的なぎこちなさを感じさせることもなく音楽が流れてくるところは実に面白い。 当方としては一度、楽譜を見てみたいところ。 なお、一般的な音楽好きに薦めるかといえば、そこは微妙で、全曲聞くと明るめ２曲どうし、または 暗め２曲どうしであれば、劇的に変わった感じがしないところはあり、そのあたりはどうにも退屈感 は感じるでしょう（だから４点）。また、レクイエムのような傑作と比べると、霊感は多少乏しいか もしれませんので、オケゲムを全く知らない方にはまず、レクイエムで耳を慣らした方が良いでしょう。 なお、演奏している団体は、今現在、フランスで最も実力のある古楽団体といわれており、「フラン スの合唱団はイギリスや、オランダほど上手くないんじゃないか?」と疑う方にも十分薦められる出来 です。古楽ファン、合唱ファンは一聴の価値あり。

Interprétation impeccable d'un chef-d'oeuvre du XVème siècle sur le plan de la justesse. Mieux encore, cet enregistrement est exceptionnel car il nous fournit la même oeuvre dans quatre modes différents (ré, mi, fa, sol) . Ainsi on peut apprécier les divers affects reliés à ces modes. À titre d'expérience d'écoute active, d'émotion esthétique et de perspective historique, cet album est exemplaire.

Alors qu'il fut le musicien de trois rois de France, Charles VII, Louis XI et Charles VIII, Ockeghem reste l'un de nos compositeurs les plus méconnus. De ce fait, la représentation discographique de sa musique, pour le peu qu'elle existe, doit à ce très beau disque une bonification qualitative largement méritée. De la génération de Guillaume Dufay et de Josquin Desprez, ce Franco-Flamand était pourtant considéré comme la référence de cette seconde moitié du XVe siècle. Parmi les nombreuses messes dont il est l'auteur, la Missa Cuiusvis Toni (messe dans n'importe quel ton) étonne par l'étrangeté de son titre. Ne comportant aucune indication en tête de partition, son interprétation peut s'effectuer indifféremment dans chacune des quatre tonalités ecclésiastiques de ré, mi, fa et sol. Plus de 500 ans plus tard, les membres de Musica Nova cultivent cette singularité en l'enregistrant dans toutes les versions possibles. Quatre fois la même messe, a capella de surcroît, voilà de quoi décourager les plus téméraires, penserez-vous ! Que nenni, bien au contraire, puisque cette parution célèbre deux apogées : celui de l'esthétique de la musique d'Ockeghem et celui d'artistes aussi doués que courageux. En effet, là où l'on aurait pu craindre une beauté un peu glacée, typique de certaines exécutions du répertoire sacré de cette époque, on est surpris par l'émouvante présence que dispense l'interprétation de Musica Nova. D'une humanité fervente et passionnelle, de toute évidence elle s'inspire beaucoup des chefs-d'aeuvre architecturaux gothiques dans lesquels elle nous entraîne. L'écoute de ces deux heures de chant recueillera, j'en suis certain, l'assentiment de plus d'un néophyte pour peu qu'ils ne soient pas hermétiques aux symboles qui se rattachent à cette musique. Un disque à écouter à genoux !

un travail très abouti sur les 4 tons ecclésiastiques (ré mi fa sol), à partir du codex chigli (manuscrit romain datant de peu après la mort du grand "trésorier de Tours", monument de l'histoire de la musique au côté de Dufay, Busnois et Frye, à qui Josquin, Obrecht, La Rue, Agricola...sont redevables) semble t-il. Musica Nova fait un travail largement à la hauteur des meilleurs ensembles français "a sei voci, gilles binchois, obsidienne..." et même mondiaux (liste personnelle non exhaustive) "clerk's group, binchois consort, odhecaton, cantica symphonia, la reverdie, capilla flamenca..." pour les musiques médiévale et renaissance.