“My Lord, I believe that neither God nor monarch will have a music chapel superior to our own, if you bring Josquin here.” The talent scout working for Ercole d’Este, Duke of Ferrara, could hardly believe his luck when the illustrious Franco-Fleming agreed to a top transfer. And who could blame him? Among the greatest of the great, Josquin des Prez bears the crown. We celebrated the 500th anniversary of the death of the Franco-Flemish polyphony superstar in 2021. And Josquin is a familiar guest of honour at Laus Polyphoniae, who wins over audiences time and again with his creative genius and music swirling with graceful melodies, sophisticated rhythms, an astonishing range of textures and colours and an expressivity that was unrivalled around 1500. The best of the best made it into this anthology of Josquin’s work, honed to perfection by the sublime voices of the ensemble Cut Circle and curated by the researcher and performer Jesse Rodin, an eminent expert on Josquin.
Program
Works by J. des Prez
Performers
Corrine Byrne, Sonja DuToit Tengblad, superius | Steven Soph, Lawrence Jones, altus | Bradford Gleim, tenor | Rupert Peacock, Brett Kostrzewski, bassus | Bradford Gleim, artistic advice | Jesse Rodin, artistic direction