Palestrina in the NYT
Zachary Woolfe, New York Times (30 January, 2025)
The superb vocal ensemble Stile Antico concludes its anniversary-themed “Golden Renaissance” triptych with Palestrina, who was born 500 years ago this December. Following albums devoted to Josquin des Prez (died in 1521) and William Byrd (died in 1623), this final installment is a concise introduction to an Italian master whose flawlessly smooth, celestially shining sacred polyphony loomed over the second half of the 16th century.
Stile Antico’s central offering is Palestrina’s great “Missa Papae Marcelli,” but the ensemble cleverly alternates its sections with six shorter works: “Exultate Deo,” gently surging; a pure “Tu es Petrus”; the stunningly serene, deeply felt “Sicut cervus”; a 12-voice “Laudate Dominum in tympanis”; a “Salve Regina” that, in this company, is strikingly austere; and “Assumpta est Maria,” which draws the program to a joyous conclusion.
But the “Missa Papae Marcelli” is in every way at the core of the album: Listen to the longing of the “Kyrie eleison” and, in the “Gloria,” the quiet build to rapture of “Qui tollis peccata mundi.” Stile Antico sings this complex yet elegantly polished music with the group’s usual combination of lushness and focus, stillness and energy, bringing expression and nuance to what can sometimes slip into coolly uniform gorgeousness.