Welcome to Hyperion Records, an independent British classical label devoted to presenting high-quality recordings of music of all styles and from all periods from the twelfth century to the twenty-first.

Hyperion offers both CDs, and downloads in a number of formats. The site is also available in several languages.

Please use the dropdown buttons to set your preferred options, or use the checkbox to accept the defaults.

Click cover art to view larger version
Track(s) taken from SIGCD045

Accesserunt ad Jesum

composer
author of text
Matthew 19: 3-6

The Brabant Ensemble, Stephen Rice (conductor)
Recording details: April 2003
Merton College Chapel, Oxford, United Kingdom
Produced by Jeremy Summerly
Engineered by Justin Lowe
Release date: September 2004
Total duration: 7 minutes 33 seconds

Cover artwork: The Marriage of the Virgin (detail of the suitors) (1500-1504) by Pietro Perugino (c1445-1523)
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Caen / Bridgeman Images
 

Reviews

'The individual movements of the Mass are nicely contrasted with, for example, robust duetting in the ‘Et resurrexit’, and a touchingly reflective Agnus Dei. The motets, too, have moments to cherish (‘Accesserunt’ brings out the best in the singers)' (BBC Music Magazine)
RECORDING
PERFORMANCE

'Clemens’s beautifully crafted and mellifluous polyphony, nicely spiced with tellingly placed chromaticisms, is immediately appealing. The Brabant Ensemble generally does it full justice, with its clear, steady tone: the bell-like soprano sound is particularly attractive. The group also gives the music a natural sense of flow, especially in slow and expressive items such as the desolate motet Job tonso capite … a most promising debut album, suggesting the the Brabant Ensemble could have a bright future—especially if, in its enterprising choice of repertoire, it is starting as it means to go on' (The Daily Telegraph)

'They make a glorious sound which may be very English, for want of a better word, but which I found irresistible—Clemens’s mellifluous lines rise and fall beautifully, no one part taking precedence over the others, and all with an ethereal feeling … if you are unfamiliar with this repertoire, do buy this; it will change your life. Those of you who are, don't miss this wonderful debut recording' (Early Music Review)
Accesserunt ad Jesum (SSATB) shows an entirely different approach to text from the majority of Clemens’s works (it is attributed in one of its twelve sources to the minor composer Pieter Maessens). Whereas like most of his contemporaries Clemens typically writes full textures, making his musical effects by subtle variations in harmony and melodic decoration, with tight control of dissonance, here the text is projected sharply by means of contrast between upper and lower voices; the piece is also unusual in falling into three sections, the middle of which (here taken by three solo voices) introduces Jesus’s admonition to the Pharisees concerning the estate of marriage. In the final section, more direct word-painting follows, as the phrase ‘twain shall be one flesh’ is set to a rhythmic duet.

from notes by Stephen Rice © 2004

Waiting for content to load...
Waiting for content to load...