Lasso: Hieremiae Prophetae Lamentationes

Roland de Lassus: Hieremiae prophetae lamentationes
Les Lamentations de Jérémie - The Lamentations of Jeremiah - Die Klagelieder Jeremias
Chapelle Royale - Philippe Herreweghe
Harmonia Mundi HMC 40 1299 [Cass.]
Harmonia Mundi HMC 90 1299 [CD]

Roland de Lassus: Hieremiae prophetae lamentationes

Contents:

    Jeudi Saint
  1. Lamentatio prima, primi diei Feria V ad matutinum in nocturno I: Lectio I
  2. Lamentatio seconda, primi diei Feria V ad matutinum in nocturno I: Lectio II
  3. Lamentatio tertia, primi diei Feria V ad matutinum in nocturno I: Lectio III

  4. Vendredi Saint
  5. Lamentatio prima, secundi diei Feria VI ad matutinum in nocturno I: Lectio I
  6. Lamentatio seconda, secundi diei Feria VI ad matutinum in nocturno I: Lectio II
  7. Lamentatio tertia, secundi diei Feria VI ad matutinum in nocturno I: Lectio III

  8. Samedi Saint
  9. Lamentatio prima, tertii diei Sabbato sancto ad matutinum in nocturno I: Lectio I
  10. Lamentatio seconda, tertii diei Sabbato sancto ad matutinum in nocturno I: Lectio II
  11. Lamentatio tertia, tertii diei Sabbato sancto ad matutinum in nocturno I: Lectio III

Performers

Ensemble Européen de la Chapelle royale , Philippe Herreweghe dir.
Dominique Verkinderen, Maria-Cristina Kiehr, Gundula Anders (S), Vincent Darras, Betty van den Berghe, Kaï Wessel (A), Angus Smith, Simon Davies, Gerd Türk, Hervé Lamy (T), Renaud Machart, Peter Kooy, Stephan Schreckenberger (B).

Playing time: 74'

Recording date: March 1989;
Rel.: 1989

Excerpts:
[9] Harmonia Mundi "Century" HMX 290 8170 [CD] A History of Music, vol. 8: Messes et Motets de la Renaissance (1500-1600 / Renaissance Masses and Motets (1500-1600) - Musique sacrée de la Renaissance / Renaissance Sacred Music

One of the last works of the great Renaissance composer, as well as the last polyphonic setting of the Lamentations. As performed here by Herreweghe and his singers, it is suffused with religious intensity and meditative peace; and it becomes something like a cathedral, a vast, magnificent, intricate space, where one enters for prayer and meditation.

The music follows the post-Trent format for the Lamentations: three sets of three Lamentations, one set for each day (Thursday, Friday, Saturday). As usual, each verse is preceded by extended melismas on the Hebrew letters which number them, and to which Lasso devotes enormous attention. In some instances, the melismas last almost as long as the verse itself. They are not really sung as melismas, but as long echoes of a motif ranging up and down the register of the choir. The "gimel" in the 8th lecture lasts over a minute and a half...

The verses, encased by the melismas like stained-glass windows by pillars, are smoothly flowing and well-articulated. The text of Jeremiah, clearly heard through the polyphony (following Trentine guidelines), serves as a guide for the soul as it wanders. The music does not try to express the text so much as exposit it, in the most gorgeous and serene way possible, and let the listener do the rest.

François Velde

Other programs including Lassus' Lamentations:

Lasso: Hieremiae Prophetae Lamentationes
Ensemble Vocal Orlando - Laurent Gendre
Cascavelle 3003
Lassus: Lamentationes Hieremiae Prophetae / Missa pro defunctis
Collegium Regale - Stephen Cleobury
Signum 076
Lassus: Music for Holy Week and Easter Sunday
Requiem a 4 / Lamentations / Magnificat / Motets
Pro Cantione Antiqua - Bruno Turner / Mark Brown
Hyperion 66321/2 (2 CDs)

And two similar cycles:

Officium Defunctorum
Lasso: Lectiones sacrae novem ex Libris Hiob
Corvina Consort - Zoltán Kalmanovits
Emendé Production MDP 001
Officium in Nativitate Domini
Lasso: Lectiones matutinae de nativitas Christi / Responsoria in Nativitate Domini
Corvina Consort - Zoltán Kalmanovits
Mæter Records 002

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Todd M. McComb