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Track(s) taken from CDA67848

Vox in Rama

composer
4vv; Liber secundus ecclesiasticarum cantionum quatuor vocum (Antwerp: Susato, 1553). RISM 1553/9
author of text
Matthew 2:18, citing Jeremiah 31:15

The Brabant Ensemble, Stephen Rice (conductor)
Recording details: March 2010
Merton College Chapel, Oxford, United Kingdom
Produced by Antony Pitts
Engineered by Justin Lowe
Release date: January 2011
Total duration: 4 minutes 16 seconds

Cover artwork: Virgin and Mary Magdalen at the foot of the Cross, detail from the Isenheim Altarpiece (c1510/15). Matthias Grünewald (c1480-1528)
Musée d’Unterlinden, Colmar, France / Bridgeman Images
 

Reviews

‘The setting of Mass for the Dead understandably gets top billing, for despite its modest scale and simplicity, it is an affecting piece, as its opening movements signally testify. The Brabant Ensemble sing this with admirable clarity, assisted by a very transparent acoustic and recorded sound image’ (Gramophone)

‘This is the second recording by The Brabant Ensemble devoted to Clemens … together they go some way to convincing us that he was one of the better composers of the 16th century … here we get good tuning and chordal singing that glows from within’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘The disc admirably addresses a gap in the market with highly expressive performances of a beautiful requiem and a series of exquisitely crafted motets, which illustrate powerfully Clemens' great gift for both melody and harmonic adventurousness and intensity of expression’ (Early Music Review)

‘Sympathetically recorded and with excellent booklet notes by Rice, this is another fine release by an ensemble that could be seen as stemming from the same tradition as The Tallis Scholars, i.e a chamber choir bringing before the public little-known repertoire, the worth of which it passionately believes in. It does it every bit as well, too’ (International Record Review)
Vox in Rama uses expressive fourth leaps, sequences and homophony, but on a relatively small canvas, the whole piece lasting only seventy-two breves. The story of Rachel weeping for her lost children is perhaps the most harrowing of all the penitential texts. (It also provided the model for a setting by the Jacobean English composer George Kirbye, as shown by D Humphreys, Early Music 2008.)

from notes by Stephen Rice © 2010

Vox in Rama utilise des sauts de quarte expressifs, des séquences et de l’homophonie, mais sur une trame bien moindre, l’ensemble du morceau durant seulement soixante-douze brèves. L’histoire de Rachel pleurant ses enfants perdus est peut-être le plus déchirant de tous les textes pénitentiels. (Le compositeur jacobéen George Kirbye s’en inspira également, comme le montra D. Humphreys dans Early Music, 2008.)

extrait des notes rédigées par Stephen Rice © 2010
Français: Hypérion

In Vox in Rama kommen Quartsprünge, Sequenzen und Homophonie vor, jedoch in viel kleinem Ausmaß, da das gesamte Stück lediglich 72 Breven lang ist. Die Geschichte der Rahel, die ihre verlorenen Kinder beweint, ist vielleicht der erschütterndste aller Bußtexte. (Außerdem diente er als Vorbild für eine Vertonung des englischen Komponisten George Kirbye, der gegen Ende des 16. Jahrhunderts und zu Beginn des 17. Jahrhunderts wirkte, wie D. Humphreys in dem Magazin Early Music im Jahr 2008 aufgezeigt hat.)

aus dem Begleittext von Stephen Rice © 2010
Deutsch: Viola Scheffel

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