Thread: Tomás Luis de Victoria recommendations

A short time ago I purchased a recording of the Victoria requiem called Officium Defunctorum, recorded by Gabrieli Consort on the Archiv label. I love this recording. I have no other works by Victoria, and I'm looking for recommendations. OTOH, if this is his only great work, please let me know.

O magnum mysterium and O vos omnes are outstanding motets. If you like McCreesh, O magnum appears on his Palestrina Mass CD.

The Victoria CD by Andrew Carwood and the Cardinall's Musick is well done.

I am like you, Andrew B., I have only heard/got de Victoria's Requiem & haven't heard anything else by the man. This is quite a laid-back requiem, kind of lyrical compared to some others I've heard. I have an Australian self-published recording sung by Sydney's Christ Church St Laurence Choir under the direction of Dr Neil McEwan, which is excelllent, coupled with motets by Byrd, Tallis & Palestrina & also the traditional Gregorian chant requiem mass. It's all good...

For Victoria (and Guerrero for that matter) I'd really recommend getting ahold of any of the recordings by the Spanish ensembles Musica Ficta or La Colombina. I think they are a lot more exciting than than those by The Tallis Scholars or The Gabrieli Consort in this repertoire.

I do agree with Manxfeeder that The Cardinall's Musick's version of Missa Gaudeamus is great though.

Originally Posted by hocket

For Victoria (and Guerrero for that matter) I'd really recommend getting ahold of any of the recordings by the Spanish ensembles Musica Ficta or La Colombina. I think they are a lot more exciting than than those by The Tallis Scholars or The Gabrieli Consort in this repertoire.

I'm listening to Musica Ficta's Requiem. I hadn't paid much attention to this group, because I thought it was Bo Holton's Danish group, Musica Ficta. Thanks for the heads-up.

Yeah, apparently there's four or five ensembles going by that name so the confusion is fairly widespread. As for Requiems they do a cracking version of Morales's too. Anyway, hope you enjoy it -I thought they revealed the dynamics far more than the Tallis Scholars rather staid version of the Victoria and was a lot less 'stagey' than the McCreesh.

Originally Posted by hocket

Anyway, hope you enjoy it -I thought they revealed the dynamics far more than the Tallis Scholars rather staid version of the Victoria and was a lot less 'stagey' than the McCreesh.

Yes, I do.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I've been reading all along, but didn't respond before. I sometimes get confused trying to read here and then look for a place to buy online. My head starts spinning.

In all my reading here and then looking online, I landed on Officium Hebdomadae Sanctae, La Colombina; Schola Antiqua. Apparently this is more than a single mass; it is a collection holy week music written by Victoria at different times. I'm reading about it at a blog review.

I'm in the U.S. I checked Amazon and other U.S. sources and nobody has it. It appears to be out of print. I am not against MP3 versions, and I found a place called Classical Archives. I hope they are not bootleggers. They look legit.

Thoughts?

Andrew B wrote:

In all my reading here and then looking online, I landed on Officium Hebdomadae Sanctae, La Colombina; Schola Antiqua. Apparently this is more than a single mass; it is a collection holy week music written by Victoria at different times. I'm reading about it at a blog review.

Yeah, that's a fantastic collection. It's the whole of one of Victoria's major publications in Rome and includes the whole of his Tenebrae Responsories and a version of his Lamentations. Unusually for these guys it's not one voice per part but I don't subscribe to that religiously (though I do agree that it tends to work better on more renaissance vocal pieces than not) -but it doesn't matter as the performances are great.

I'd also recommend looking at the Amazon review by 'Giordiano Bruno' who's outstandingly knowledgeable and the most reliable 'Early Music' reviewer that I've come across: http://www.amazon.com/Victoria-Offic...2181293&sr=1-5

It was his review of Guerrerro's Motets and Villanescas by La Colombina that initially turned me onto these Spanish specialists in the first place as I had always been rather fustrated with the performances of this repertoire by English vocal groups (Tallis Scholars, Sixteen, Gabrieli Consort etc.) which tend to induce me to nod off.

The 3 disc set is a bit of an outlay of course. Musica Ficta have recorded the Tenebrae separately (the record's just called '18' and is outstanding) and (an earlier version of) The Lamentations. La Colombina have also recorded another Roman publication under the title Ad Vesperas. These (as well as all their other recordings of Victoria, Guerrero, Morales and Lobo) are well worth looking into if you're interested in Spanish music of the period. For Morales I'd also recommend checking out the recording of his Tenebrae Responsories by the French outfit 'Doulce Memoire' which is stunning.

Originally Posted by Andrew B.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I've been reading all along, but didn't respond before. I sometimes get confused trying to read here and then look for a place to buy online. My head starts spinning.

In all my reading here and then looking online, I landed on Officium Hebdomadae Sanctae, La Colombina; Schola Antiqua. Apparently this is more than a single mass; it is a collection holy week music written by Victoria at different times. I'm reading about it at a blog review.

I'm in the U.S. I checked Amazon and other U.S. sources and nobody has it. It appears to be out of print. I am not against MP3 versions, and I found a place called Classical Archives. I hope they are not bootleggers. They look legit.

Thoughts?

Try this web page http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/...album_id=30947 It lists a recording on the Tactus label for Vittoria's Officium Hebdomadae Sanctae. I have purchased many CDs from Arkiv Music and have always been satisfied. they are very prompt in shipping. My only connection with them is that of a very satisfied customer. They have many unusual items at often very good prices. Hope this helps.

Obviously I would be wary before shelling out for a random record just on the basis that it's in stock. La Stagione Armonica are a decent enough group (though better known for baroque rather than renaissance performances IIRC) but the recording's still an unknown quantity unless someone here's familiar with it. Secondly that's a one disc selection of excerpts from the Hebdomadae -a very different proposition to the La Colombina offering.

As I said before, I'd recommend going with the Spanish groups that specialise in this repertoire, certainly before some random recording.

An interesting thing just happened. The blog review I pointed to from here just quoted from my message here. I'm not complaining; just found it interesting this happened. I wonder if it's automated to find links and quote from them.

Anyway, thank you for the link to Arkiv Music. I didn't know about it. I was also looking at one by Ensemble Officium choir conducted by Rombach at Classics Online.

I was also looking at one by Ensemble Officium choir conducted by Rombach at Classics Online.

It's another one disc excerpts collection. Ensemble Officium are a good Renaissance group (but so are the Gabrieli Consort and The Tallis Scholars and their recordings of Victoria are certainly better known) but seeing as La Colombina's complete recording of it is available on itunes I'd have thought that was a vastly superior option. Otherwise there are probably better choices available with various excellent recordings of the Tenebrae Responsories, the Lamentations and Missa Gaudeamus amongst others.