Rue Pierre de la Rue.

[Mandryka]

This recording has been widely panned on the web. David Vernier for Classics Today advises readers not to buy it, saying that he heard "poor balances, shaky vocal production, and shabby ensemble singing."  Sid James on Amazon complains that the top line's too prominent. The anonymous reviewer for Gramophone says that "Careless intonation, poor vocal support and rhythmic imprecision mar nearly every bar, with the result that proper voicing, balance and phrasing (the stuff of interpretation) are left to fend for themselves. Seldom have I found listening to music I expected to enjoy so uncomfortable." 

I really am enjoying it.

I don't know about the precision of the ensemble, I've always been completely cloth eared when it comes to the art of singing. The balance doesn't sound very problematic to me, I mean maybe . . . but really I think it's a bit of nitpicking. The vocal production is also fine in my opinion, nothing offensive there, rather small scale which is good in my book.

So why do I like it?

It's because they communicate a feeling of the shape of the music. This is what I've found is so lacking in so many other performances of La Rue, but Sanvoisin & Co. have it in spades IMO. In their hands the mass sounds like interesting music - I'm not sure I could say the same of many other La Rue performances on record.

[betterthanfine]

^Since you made me curious, I listened to the first track on Spotify. I had to turn it off halfway. The reviews are right, as far as I'm concerned... Shaky vocal production and careless intonation, for sure! 

[Mandryka]

^Since you made me curious, I listened to the first track on Spotify. I had to turn it off halfway. The reviews are right, as far as I'm concerned... Shaky vocal production and careless intonation, for sure! 

I'm sure the reviews are right, I don't feel as though I have the authority to dispute these things with them or even you, it's just I find that they make the music make sense, I guess I value that much more than intonation and stuff like that. And I wish that more ensembles made La Rue's music make sense to me.

[betterthanfine]

I'm too distracted by the flaws to focus on the interpretation. But I'm certainly glad to hear you're enjoying this recording so much. Happy listening!

[Mandryka]

I'm too distracted by the flaws to focus on the interpretation. But I'm certainly glad to hear you're enjoying this recording so much. Happy listening!

Yes I am enjoying it, and I must be deaf because, quite frankly, I think you and the critics are overreacting. I am especially pleased because the music of this composer, which has previously meant nothing to me emotionally, is starting to open up.

The one place where even I was shocked by the ensemble was in the La Rue Requiem from The Sound and the Fury  -- though I suspect that what they do is totally deliberate. I'll try to comment in more detail soon.

[Mandryka]

I'm not quite sure what this is, I don't have the booklet. I think it's a collection of ordinary mass movements put together in the usual way, I don't know if they're fragments or taken from extant complete(r) works. And in alternatim some chanting, again I don't know if any of the chant is by de la Rue.

Whatever. It's nicely done, and it's good for me to have such a complete mass, which I find a more satisfying, if longer,  experience than five movements of polyphony.

This is the only thing I've heard by Amarcord, maybe something by Poulenc about 10 years ago, but this is the only thing I really remember. I will explore more of what they do. They sing in a "classical" way -- it's not modal, it's not dissonant, it sounds like they're all supporting each other and making "sweet harmony" together, the way they form and attack the notes wouldn't sound too out of place if it were Bach or Schubert they were singing, maybe a bit too straight for Schubert, maybe not. It's tempting to say that this is renaissance music granddad style, but that would be unfair and unkind,  on paper their stuff may sound a bit boring, but honestly, it's fine, they do it really well and the music is full of attractive memorable tunes and  interesting counterpoint.

[Mandryka]

 

These recordings contain the La Rue Easter Mass. The Ars Antiqua performance avoids forceful projection of sounds, and is fluid and lyrical and sweet. The Sound and Fury is incisively articulated and is full of aggressive dissonances, and gives me the impression of being more a public performance than a private prayer.