Who is Jacobus de Kerle and why should we care? The short–and most persuasive–answer is to just get this disc and hear for yourself. Begin with the two Agnus Dei settings that come near the end of the program, and 10 minutes later you’ll be convinced that this neglected contemporary of Lassus is a master equal to the most eminent (and more familiar) European polyphonists of the 16th century. Huelgas-Ensemble director Paul Van Nevel, who apparently transcribed these works for performance, offers an explanation for Kerle’s undeserved obscurity: The only one of his works to be published in modern times (in 1926) was an ill-chosen “didactic composition”, written to demonstrate musical guidelines for papal legates to the Council of Trent in 1562, and therefore “virtually devoid of any artistic individuality.” Van Nevel believes that because this edition appeared as the sole modern example of Kerle’s work, an unfortunate–and lasting–impression was given as to his true compositional ability and achievement.
This program and these excellent performances confirm Kerle’s extraordinary skill at combining and varying melodic material and in creating vocal sonorities of unusual richness and power. Structurally these works, especially the Mass movements, show a perfect balance between harmonic rhythm and melodic flow–characteristic of composers like Byrd, Victoria, and Lassus. There’s also vibrancy inherent in pieces such as the Credo (yes, the Credo!) from the Missa Da Pacem that these singers really feel and effectively convey to listeners–which not only keeps us interested but invigorates us and satisfies some deep-rooted desire for musical experience that’s tuneful, harmonious, and on some level spiritually meaningful. I really loved the variety of textures and the varied use of voices throughout the program–Van Nevel and his singers really should be recognized for bringing to life what should be a candidate for a disc-of-the-year citation.
My only complaint is that, as a choral director, whenever I hear music like this I am almost never able to find a performing edition of the music in question. Either the liner notes don’t list publishers (and why not?), or the recording’s producers seem to feel it unimportant to inform listeners as to the origins of the editions used by the singers on a given CD. What’s the point of offering us this remarkable music if you hoard the only available performing copies and never make them available to a broader, eager public?
Although it’s nice to have these rare musical works on recordings, wouldn’t it be even better to make performing editions available to a wider community of choirs and audiences so that they could become part of the repertoire? With today’s amazing music transcribing and printing software I know that such a proposal could be easily and immediately implemented. The work that goes into researching and creating these performing copies from archival manuscripts should be fully rewarded. Why not offer them for a fee as downloads, and the entire choral music world would benefit–not to mention composers such as Jacobus de Kerle, whose music I’d perform as fast as I could get copies. And I know I am not alone; anyone who hears this fabulous CD will have a similar response. [3/2/2006]
