Music for Milan Cathedral
DCD34224 (Delphian Records, CD)
DDD
24-bit stereo
NEW RELEASE (29 November 2019)
Playing time: 66'28"
Tracks: 11
Booklet pages: 20
© 2019 Delphian Records Ltd
Main country of recording: UK
Country of manufacture: EU
Sent to a reviewer on 8 January 2020
Listen: Herrmann Matthias Werrecore (track 3, 0:02-0:57)
Siglo de Oro
Patrick Allies, conductor
Herrmann Matthias Werrecore (circa 1500-post 1574):
1 Inviolata, integra et casta es Maria (first recording)
Franchinus Gaffurius (1451-1522):
2 O sacrum convivium
Herrmann Matthias Werrecore:
3 Popule meus (first recording)
Josquin des Prez (c1450-1521):
4 Alma redemptoris mater / Ave regina caelorum
Herrmann Matthias Werrecore:
5 Proh dolor (first recording)
6 Ave maris stella (first recording)
7 Inclina Deus meus (first recording)
Gaspar van Weerbeke (circa 1445-post 1516):
8 Ave regina caelorum, mater (first recording)
Herrmann Matthias Werrecore:
9 Beati omnes qui timent Dominum (first recording)
Dominique Phinot (circa 1510-circa 1556):
10 Homo quidam fecit (first recording)
Josquin des Prez:
11 Inviolata, integra et casta es Maria
Recorded 22-24 April 2019 in the Chapel of Merton College, Oxford, UK
In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Milan Cathedral acted as a magnet to many of the finest composers of the time. Yet the Cathedral's maestro di cappella for almost thirty years, Hermann Matthias Werrecore, is almost completely unknown to us today.
Why was he forgotten? Did his Flemish origins mean he was never properly adopted by his Milanese congregation? Did his later reputation suffer from confusion with his countryman Matthias Le Maistre?
Six of Werrecore's surviving motets are presented here – the first time any of his sacred music has been recorded. They are heard alongside works by composers Werrecore knew, drawn mostly from the holdings of the Milan library during his tenure there. Siglo de Oro's act of rediscovery reveals the exceptional quality of the music, and Patrick Allies directs them in performances of extraordinary flair.