Victoria: Requiem Officium Defunctorum

Here Conductor Paul McCreesh and the Gabriel Consort offer an informed, up-to-date, scholarly arrangement of Victoria's famous Requiem Mass or Officium Defunctorum (Office of the Dead) as it may have been heard when it was originally performed during the funeral of the Dowager Empress Maria for whom it was written. As was customary during this period, McCreesh enriches Victoria's model by supplementing it with works from other composers, as well as heightens the intensity of the drama by frequently contrasting polyphony with the chant sequences. This inspired and expertly crafted performance will surely be of interest to all Renaissance vocal enthusiasts., Victoria's famous Requiem, fully titled Officium defunctorum ("Office for the Dead"), published in 1605, was composed for the funeral of the Dowager Empress Maria (daughter of Charles V, sister of Philip II, wife of Emperor Maximilian) in 1603 in Madrid. Paul McCreesh's recording aims to re-create that service, with prayers and chants (including the well-known Dies irae, not set by Victoria) in their liturgical sequence. This alternation of chant and polyphony gives a good idea--better than would Victoria's polyphony alone--of just how solemn and sumptuous the Empress's funeral was. This wouldn't matter, of course, if the Gabrieli Consort's performance of this bewitchingly melancholy music were anything less than excellent. It's that and more--as the music progresses, the singing becomes more involved and intense; by the time the Sanctus arrives, it is transcendent. --Matthew Westphal