Missa Doulce mémoire
O altitudo divitiarum
Fratres - Scitote
Illuxit nunc sacra dies
Missa a note negre

The Brabant Ensemble continue theirinvestigation into unknown jewels of the Low CountriesRenaissance,researched by their director StephenRice and recorded with equal amounts of passion and erudition by the young singers of the group.

Cipriano deRore was and is principally known as a madrigal composer, and, as StephenRice writes, ‘blended the contrapuntal complexity of Low Countries polyphonic style with Italian poetic texts to create a newly expressive vernacular genre’. This recording represents something of a new departure in presenting some of the least well-known aspects of the output of a composer who is justly famous in other ?elds.

The album contains two Mass settings based on French chansons, Missa a note negre on a composition byRore himself, and Missa Doulce mémoire, which takes one of the sixteenth century’s greatest hits, by PierreRegnault dit Sandrin (c1490– after 1560) as its inspiration.Also included are three motets. Fratres: Scitoteis apparently a unique instance of composition to its text: St Paul here tells the story of the Last Supper, in which Jesus takes bread, blesses and distributes it, and thereby institutes the ritual of Holy Communion.