It seems like every couple of months I discover yet another newly formed vocal group, established to perform early and/or Renaissance music. Most often, it’s an ensemble of English singers, a natural outgrowth of one of the world’s richest and still-enviable choral traditions. And that’s where I would have guessed this Ensemble Officium to be from, had I relied only on my ears. The women’s clear, open, forward-focused tone and the unforced solidity of the basses and unmannered lyricism of the tenors had me wondering for a moment from which Cambridge-based college these singers received their training. Rather, this group, which was founded in 1999 by conductor Wilfried Rombach, hails from southern Germany and already has won critical acclaim and several choral competition prizes.
On evidence of this recording, the attention is deserved; performance-wise this is one of the finest Palestrina discs I’ve heard. These 16 singers not only sing the notes, but they sing them with precision and careful attention to ensemble balance while managing the finer aspects of expression. The long lines are beautifully spun, the interweaving of parts is a truly dynamic interaction, fully sensitive to what’s really important at a given moment. It’s difficult to make Palestrina sound routine, but it takes singers of exceptional musicianship and the most refined ensemble skills to achieve the sublime level we have here. Even the plainchant Ave Regina caelorum (chant is one of this group’s specialties), sung only by women’s voices, rises from earthly to ethereal. The following Kyrie, which begins the mass based on the Ave Regina caelorum chant melody, shows the choir at its best, the sumptuousness of the music’s textures and its bright-colored harmonies making an impression as if we were hearing Byrd, Tallis, and Victoria rolled into one.
Remarkably, this is, as far as I know, the only recording of Palestrina’s gorgeous set of eight polyphonic sacred madrigals, Le Vergini, each one based on a stanza from Petrarch’s original 11-stanza poem. The composer ingeniously illuminates the texts while also conforming to the poet’s unique rhythmic scheme. The sound is just slightly too resonant to capture the linear detail most clearly, and this same condition also tends to obscure some of the harmonic moments that otherwise would have even more pleasurable impact. Nevertheless, this is really fine music making and lovely music to go with it. Although the Tallis Scholars remain the world’s premier Palestrina performers, if forced to make such comparisons I’d without reservation say that Ensemble Officium is very close behind. I look forward to hearing more–much more–from this excellent group. [9/16/2001]
