Ensemble Polyharmonique and Concerto Imperiale – Lambert de Sayve: Ad Vesperas (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

In the 17th century the city of Liège, capital of an enormous diocese and of a principality within the Empire, was described as a “priests’ paradise” on account of its imposing cathedral, its seven collegiate churches, about thirty parish churches, and its numerous abbeys and monasteries.

This recording does more than justice to two manuscript which provides rare evidence of the polyphonic repertoire in use by the Liège religious orders in the first half of the 17th century: Grand Livre de chœur de Saint-Lambert and Livre d’orgue des frères croisiers. The fifty-odd 4- to 8-part motets assembled in the Grand Livre de chœur are by the hand of Liège composers from the first half of the 17th century who, with the exception of Gilles Hayne, were all active at the cathedral.

These motets illustrate the permanence of the rite in honour of the patron saint of the diocese, Bishop Lambert, and other acts of devotions in favour in Liège at the time. Following the traditional format of the evening office, the vespers presented here alternate psalms and antiphons and end with a Magnificat with a particularly rich tonal texture. Sayve’s Magnificat for double chorus, preserved in the National Library at Ljubljana, here receives its first recording.

Drawing on extant sources of composers who all maintained a link with Liège, the Polyharmonique and Concerto Imperiale ensembles, under the direction of Alexander Schneider et Fabien Moulaert, here offers a programme remarkable for its great stylistic and musical coherence.

Tracklist:
1-1. Concerto Imperiale – Toccata (01:40)
1-2. Ensemble Polyharmonique – Deus in adjutorium (00:58)
1-3. Ensemble Polyharmonique – Ave Maria (01:02)
1-4. Ensemble Polyharmonique – Dixit Dominus à 8 (03:57)
1-5. Ensemble Polyharmonique – In odorem (00:19)
1-6. Ensemble Polyharmonique – Lætatus sum in his à 8 (04:20)
1-7. Ensemble Polyharmonique – Cum essem parvula (00:26)
1-8. Ensemble Polyharmonique – O gloriosa mater (02:40)
1-9. Concerto Imperiale – Fantasia (03:22)
1-10. Ensemble Polyharmonique – Salve matrona nobilissima Anna (03:09)
1-11. Ensemble Polyharmonique – Speciosa facta es (00:20)
1-12. Ensemble Polyharmonique – Nisi Dominus à 8 (04:09)
1-13. Ensemble Polyharmonique – Beata mater (00:31)
1-14. Ensemble Polyharmonique – O dulcissima mater à 8 (02:24)
1-15. Ensemble Polyharmonique – Dignare me (00:41)
1-16. Ensemble Polyharmonique – Lauda, Ierusalem, Dominum à 8 (03:27)
1-17. Ensemble Polyharmonique – O admirabile commercium (03:39)
1-18. Concerto Imperiale – Écho (09:33)
1-19. Ensemble Polyharmonique – Beatam me (00:28)
1-20. Ensemble Polyharmonique – Magnificat à 8 (04:57)
1-21. Ensemble Polyharmonique – Concede nos famulos (01:09)
1-22. Ensemble Polyharmonique – Benedicamus Domino (00:52)
1-23. Ensemble Polyharmonique – Salve Regina à 8 (08:03)
1-24. Ensemble Polyharmonique – Ecce panis angelorum à 8 (03:43)
1-25. Ensemble Polyharmonique – Tantum ergo (03:01)