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Track(s) taken from CDA67848

Heu mihi, Domine

composer
4vv; Liber primus ecclesiasticarum cantionum quatuor vocum (Antwerp: Susato, 1553). RISM 1553/8
author of text
Fifth respond at Matins for the Dead, adapted

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: 7 minutes 23 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)
Heu mihi, Domine makes expressive use of the rising minor sixth, and then reverts to the trusted formula of the semitone upper auxiliary note at ‘quia peccavi nimis’ (‘for I have sinned greatly’), before bringing the rising fourth and downward scale into play (‘Quid faciam miser?’—‘What shall I do, miserable?’). With homophony and expressive suspensions at ‘Ubi fugiam?’ (‘Where should I flee?’), the first section of this piece offers a catalogue of the devices used by Clemens and his contemporaries to bring out sorrowful feelings in their motet texts.

from notes by Stephen Rice © 2010

Heu mihi, Domine utilise un intervalle expressif, la sixte mineure ascendante et reprend ensuite la formule éprouvée de la note secondaire supérieure hémitonique à «quia peccavi nimis» («car j’ai grandement péché»), juste avant de faire intervenir la quarte ascendante et la gamme descendante («Quid faciam miser?»—«Que ferai-je, misérable?»). Avec son homophonie et ses expressives suspensions à «Ubi fugiam?» («Où m’enfuirai-je?»), la première section de cette œuvre nous offre un catalogue des procédés utilisés par Clemens et par ses contemporains pour exacerber l’affliction émanant des textes de leurs motets.

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

Heu mihi, Domine teilt ein expressives Intervall—die aufsteigende kleine Sexte. Das erstere Werk geht dann zu der zuverlässigen Formel über, bei „quia peccavi nimis“ („denn ich habe allzu sehr gesündigt“) die obere Hilfsnote, einen Halbton, einzusetzen, bevor die aufsteigende Quarte und abwärts gerichtete Tonleiter ins Spiel gebracht werden („Quid faciam miser?“—„Was soll ich tun, ich Elender?“). Hinzu kommen Homophonie und expressive Vorhalte bei „Ubi fugiam?“ („Wohin soll ich fliehen?“), so dass im ersten Teil dieses Stücks geradezu ein ganzer Katalog von Stilmitteln zum Ausdruck kommt, die Clemens und seine Zeitgenossen einsetzten, um in ihren Motetten eine trauervolle Stimmung zu erzeugen.

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

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