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Track(s) taken from CDA67479

Ave Maria a 4

composer
4vv SATB; of questionable authenticity; first printed by Pedrell in 1913
author of text
Antiphon to the Blessed Virgin Mary

Westminster Cathedral Choir, Martin Baker (conductor), Robert Quinney (organ)
Recording details: February 2004
Westminster Cathedral, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Mark Brown
Engineered by Julian Millard
Release date: October 2004
Total duration: 2 minutes 8 seconds
 

Other recordings available for download

The London Oratory Schola Cantorum, Charles Cole (conductor)
The Tallis Scholars, Peter Phillips (conductor)
Westminster Cathedral Choir, David Hill (conductor)
The Cambridge Singers, John Rutter (conductor)

Reviews

‘The choir of Westminster Cathedral has long been noted for its distinctive Continental-style tone, which gives its performances of Latin sacred polyphony an attractively distinctive quality. This magnificent recording, which shows off Victoria's mastery of the art of writing music for up to three choirs in the grandest possible manner, suggests that 2004 is a vintage year for them … recordings of Renaissance polyphony rarely come much better than this’ (The Daily Telegraph)

‘The choir is radiant in its home acoustic, and Martin Baker's well-researched decision to employ an understated organ 'continuo' adds small but telling touches of colour to the texture’ (International Record Review)

‘It is ideally suited to the full-throated, vibrant singing of the Westminster Cathedral Choir, while Martin Baker's finely controlled direction displays a keen architectural sense … a wonderful disc’ (Goldberg)

‘If you painted me into a corner and forced me to choose between Victoria and Palestrina, I’d have to choose the former, much as I love the latter. If I could have just one Victoria recording on my Desert Island, this, from Westminster Cathedral Choir directed by Martin Baker with Robert Quinney (organ) would be very high on the list … this is music that will transport you to a higher plane’ (MusicWeb International)» More
Almost all Victoria’s surviving works were printed in his lifetime; many of his motets were reprinted as many as six times. Of the few works that survive only in manuscript some were wrongly attributed to him by Pedrell at the beginning of the twentieth century. The four-part Ave Maria, perhaps rightly, continues to be accepted as Victoria’s, though it has to be noted that Pedrell first printed it in 1913 and its source remains obscure.

from notes by Bruno Turner © 1984

Victoria vit presque toutes les œuvres qui nous ont été conservées de lui publiées de son vivant—nombre de ses motets connurent jusqu’à six réimpressions. Parmi les quelques pièces n’ayant survécu qu’en manuscrit, certaines lui furent imputées, à tort, par Pedrell, au début du XXe siècle. L’Ave Maria à quatre parties continue d’ailleurs à lui être attribué, peut-être à raison, même si, notons-le, Pedrell l’imprima pour la première fois en 1913 et que sa source demeure obscure.

extrait des notes rédigées par Bruno Turner © 1984
Français: Hypérion

Fast alle überlieferten Werke Victorias erschienen bereits zu seinen Lebzeiten im Druck und viele seiner Motetten wurden bis zu sechs Mal neu aufgelegt. Von den wenigen Werken, die nur als Manuskript überliefert sind, hat Pedrell am Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts irrtümlicherweise Victoria einige zugeschrieben. Das vierstimmige Ave Maria wird jedoch vielleicht zu Recht weithin als eine Komposition Victorias akzeptiert, obwohl darauf hingewiesen werden sollte, dass es erstmals im Jahre 1913 von Pedrell gedruckt wurde und dass die Quelle des Werks nach wie vor unbekannt ist.

aus dem Begleittext von Bruno Turner © 1984
Deutsch: Viola Scheffel

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