Joseph Jongen; Flor Peeters - Mass; Missa Festiva (David Hill)

Information

Composer: Joseph Jongen; Flor Peeters

• (01-06) Jongen - Messe en l'honeur du Saint-Sacrement, Op. 130
• (07)      Jongen - Deus Abraham, W150
• (08)      Jongen - Pie Jesu, W71
• (09)      Jongen - Quid sum miser?, W99
• (10-15) Peeters - Missa Festiva, Op. 62

St. John's College Choir, Cambridge
London City Brass
Paul Provost, organ
David Hill, conductor

Date: 2007
Label: Hyperion
https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA67603

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Review

The Belgian composer, Joseph Jongen (1873–1953), left behind a substantial and diverse corpus, mostly for stage and orchestra, not much heard outside of northwestern Europe these days. Sacred music played a relatively small part in his compositional output. The present Mass has a somewhat confusing history. It was written in 1945 without the Credo, and was first performed that way in Liège in 1946 on the festal occasion of its title. The Credo, never performed in Jongen’s lifetime, came in 1948, and was promptly thereafter lost, but recovered in 1989–90 by John Scott Whiteley and Tom Cunningham. Jongen apparently added the brass parts later to everything but the Credo. (Though not credited, I think the brass parts for that movement here have been constructed by Whiteley.)

This is a large-scale festive Mass for incidental soloists, choir, organ, and brass, and it was first performed in such a setting. Whiteley (who provides the fine annotations to this recording) is of the opinion, however, that it was really intended as a concert mass. Though the first performance used a choir of 120, the scoring is subtle enough not to overwhelm a choir of 30, as here. The music is firmly in the tonal tradition (with occasional evidence that Jongen has heard other sounds, as well), but it is good to discover that he has his own voice: it is not warmed-over Ravel, Strauss, or Vaughan Williams. That said, it does not have the strong profile of those masters, either.

The choir is in fine fettle here: the sound is focused and well integrated top to bottom and it can bring forth huge climaxes and truly soft passagework equally well. With such forces at his disposal, Hill can bring out the considerable nuances in the piece. It is good to have this fine performance of a rare piece, and the recording is exemplary. Shortly after the recovery of the Credo, Cunningham led a performance by the Brussels Choral Society, which appeared on the Belgian label, Pavane (7242).

Three short solo motets bring us to Flor Peeters’s (1903–86) well-known Missa festiva (1947). This is a much more modest affair, with none of the exuberance of Jongen’s Mass and of more manageable proportions. Peters was more interested than Jongen in relating his church music to the historic sacred tradition without actually imitating it. This Mass has many of Peeters’s trademarks: wide, open chords, parallel octaves, occasional brief dissonances, and odd chord progressions to remind us we are in the 20th century—and it is largely homophonic. At first hearing, this music will strike the listener as pretty much all of a piece, but my own experience is that, without the heaven-storming affirmation Jongen brings to the texts, it actually works quite well in its place in a service. I cannot imagine it being better done than here.

-- Alan Swanson, FANFARE

More reviews:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2007/May07/Jongen_cda67603.htm
http://www.classicalsource.com/db_control/db_cd_review.php?id=4771
https://www.allmusic.com/album/joseph-jongen-mass-for-choir-organ-and-brass-flor-peeters-missa-festiva-mw0001944922

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Joseph Jongen (14 December 1873 – 12 July 1953) was a Belgian organist, composer, and music educator. From his teens to his seventies Jongen composed a great deal, including symphonies, concertos, chamber music and songs. In 1897, he won the Belgian Prix de Rome, which allowed him to travel to Italy, Germany and France. His list of opus numbers eventually reached 241, but he destroyed a good many pieces. His monumental Symphonie Concertante of 1926 is considered by many to be among the greatest works ever written for organ and orchestra, being championed and recorded by numerous eminent organists.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Jongen

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Flor Peeters (born 4 July 1903 in Tielen, died 4 July 1986 in Mechelen) was an important Belgian composer, organist and teacher. Peeters studied at the Lemmens Institute in Mechelen with Lodewijk Mortelmans, Jules Van Nuffel and Oscar Depuydt. For most of his life, Peeters was chief organist at the St. Rumbold's Cathedral in Mechelen. As an organist and pedagogue, he enjoyed great renown, giving concerts and liturgical masterclasses all over the world. He also made recordings of organ music. Most of his own pieces (he wrote well over 100) were for his own instrument, for choir, or for both.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flor_Peeters

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David Hill (born on 13 May 1957 in Carlisle, Cumberland, England) is an English conductor and organist. Renowned for his fine musicianship, David Hill is widely respected as both a choral and orchestral conductor. He is the the 9th Musical Director of The BBC Singers (since 2007), and Musical Director of The Bach Choir (since 1998). Hill was also Associate Guest conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. He has made more than 80 recordings, including many award-winners, can be found on the for Decca/Argo, Hyperion, Naxos and Virgin Classics labels.
http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Hill-David.htm

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