Morales: L’Homme Armé masses and Magnificat Secundi Toni album review – choral music from 16th-century Rome | Classical music

TThe Spanish composer Cristóbal de Morales, who led Palestrina to the papal church, was world famous in the mid-1500s, his music reaching as far as Mexico and Peru. His choral music is gaining attention today, especially from the chamber choir About Depthwhose male group wanted to emulate the best music in Europe at the time. This is their third release 12 recorded recordings including mass and all the majors of Morales.

The Magnificat Secundi Toni is a well-crafted example of Roman writing that blossoms into six lines of words at the end. Putting it with Morales’s two preferences A Man of WarA song from the time of the fall of Constantinople that started its regular tradition – more than 40 have survived from this time. The two masses use the song in different ways, giving the fifth part a much larger, smaller air than the other part; in the five-part mass the addition of the organ and the bajón – a medieval precursor to the bassoon – adds to the richness of the composition. Robert Hollingworthalso known as the director of I Fagiolini, he performs precise and loud performances.

Listen on Apple Music (above) or Spotify