Day 294
Guerrero: Battle Mass
Westminster Cathedral Choir
His Majesty’s sagbutts and cornetts
James O’Donnell
This came as something of a surprise. The name of the piece plus the fact that there were instrumental forces involved led be to expect some sort of technicolour spectacular - a hypothetical creation of how this music might sound in a festival performance. But it was not like that at all. Guerrero (1528-1599) was a Spanish composer who had a long career and seems to have had an adventurous life - Wikipedia mentions that he spend some time in prison.
The Battle Mass title is somewhat misleading. The name comes from the fact that the music uses a few fragments from a chanson by Janequin La guerre. But you would never know that from listening to the mass - in fact is rather a serious and sober piece with none of the instrumental flourishes that I had been anticipating. There are some extrovert moments but generally the music is more inward looking. To be honest I didn’t find anything particularly distinctive about the score or quite understand why some commentators rate the piece so highly. Perhaps I really need to immerse myself in Renaissance music to start to appreciate some of its subtleties. At the moment I can only go on first impressions.
I will continue this exploration of Renaissance music in the next phase of the project, listening to the work of various madrigal composers.
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