Briefly Noted

Johannes Ockeghem. Mass sections; Estonian folk chorales. Heinavanker. Alba ABCD 237, 2007.

It is just a bit misleading to present this strange and wonderful disc as an Ockeg hem recording, but Ockeghem's works do act as something of a glue holding the program together. Heinavanker is a small ensemble of Estonian singers dedicated to both early church music and the ancient folk chorales of their native country—music that drew much of its melodic content from Gregorian plainchant but gathered both melodic and harmonic accretions and elaborations over the centuries until it became something quite different. Their approach on this recording is to alternate sections from various Ockeghem masses with these traditional spiritual songs, as well as, in one case, intertwining one of those songs directly into a performance of a Gregorian chant. It is a strategy that recalls Noel Cohen's (tragically unrecorded) 1982 version of the Play of Daniel with the Boston Camerata, in which the original medieval musical drama was interspersed with traditional American shape-note hymns. The result is music of truly remarkable beauty and spiritual power. The apparent simplicity of the folk hymns is complicated by strangely dotted rhythms that frequently recall those of the Scottish strathspey and by modern harmonized settings that sometimes make them sound like early organum and at others like something from the mid-twentieth century; presented alternately with the Ockeghem selections, they often sound richly sweet next to his more open, vinegary harmonies. Heinavanker's vocal blend is effortless and quite perfect, and their tonal quality is exquisite. This gorgeous recording cannot be recommended too highly, and will reward any effort required to track it down. (NB. The program on this disc, a studio recording, largely duplicates that on a previous live recording by the same group. Titled Loomiselaul [Edi tion Kloster Maulbronn LC 11277] and released in 2005, the previous disc was released as part of a recorded series of concerts at Maulbronn Monastery in Baden Wurttemberg.)

Johann Sebastian Bach. Motetten. Hilliard Ensemble. ECM 187, 2007.

Johann Sebastian Bach. The Bach Motets. University of Wisconsin– Madison Chamber Choir / Robert Fountain. School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison. 2005.

Two recordings of J. S. Bach's motets came to this reviewer's attention in 2007—one newly recorded by the Hilliard En semble, the other a collection of older recordings originally issued in 2005 and forwarded for review consideration in 2007 by a representative of the School of Music at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Both are noteworthy, but for very different reasons.

The Wisconsin recording is less a showcase for Bach's motets than it is a tribute to the choral conductor Robert Fountain, who led choirs at that university for twenty-three years before retiring in 1994. The Fountain Legacy Project was initiated to preserve and disseminate recordings of some of the many performances he conducted during that period; for this project, roughly 350 analog tapes (both open-reel and cassette) were digitized and archived for purposes of both dissemination and preservation, and the present disc is one result of that initiative. It is, therefore, not actually the result of a recording session, but is rather a compilation of live recordings made between 1979 and 1990. The results are interesting—they amount less to a specific musical argument than a document of one man's ongoing conversation with these significant choral works, mediated by a shifting group of student singers. The choirs themselves sound very good, but do not have quite the blend or stylistic sensitivity that one might expect from a specialist or professional ensemble. However, as a complement to other recordings this one can be recommended confidently.

The ECM recording is another matter entirely. The Hilliard Ensemble is one of the most celebrated early-music groups currently recording, and they approach what is, for them, an unusual repertoire—their usual purview is the music of the medieval and Renaissance periods, as well as the twentieth century—with both insight and consummate professionalism. Singing at one voice per part, and unencumbered by the lushly reverberant acoustic that has always been the hallmark of the ECM sound (producer and label...