Scherzi Musicali and Nicolas Achten – Jean-Noël Hamal: Motets (2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

Jean-Noël Hamal’s musical language is a perfect reflection of this transitional period in which the Baroque galant style merges into the classical style. One senses in Hamal’s music a communicative vitality, a charmingly poetic note, a keen sense of elegant melody and a theatricality in dynamic contrasts which in some ways evokes the Mannheim school. As soon as he was able, he exploited the ample space available by writing works for two choirs and two orchestras. He seems also to have had a very pronounced preference for major tonalities (he even went so far as to write an astonishingly cheerful Dies irae in C major) and for very readable harmonies, although these sometimes risk being too predictable or conventional. But he was also capable of being a visionary: by their tripartite structure and the autonomous form his symphonies make him a precursor of the classical symphony. He is equally capable of entirely unexpected surprises and attractive details, as is apparent in his motets delivered respecting the practices then in force in Liège by Nicolas Achten and Scherzi Musicali ensemble, mixing subtlety and theatricality.

Tracklist:
1-01. Scherzi Musicali – Astra Cœli: I. Astra cœli (05:25)
1-02. Scherzi Musicali – Astra Cœli: II. Cessate cœli turbines (00:34)
1-03. Scherzi Musicali – Astra Cœli: III. Contenta ridendo (05:54)
1-04. Scherzi Musicali – Astra Cœli: IV. Confusa in mesta horrore (01:57)
1-05. Scherzi Musicali – Astra Cœli: V. Ah! si languet cor (08:04)
1-06. Scherzi Musicali – Astra Cœli: VI. Ad bellum, fide gentes (00:29)
1-07. Scherzi Musicali – Astra Cœli: VII. Miles fortis (11:36)
1-08. Scherzi Musicali – Ite O pompæ fallaces: I. Ite O pompæ fallaces (03:13)
1-09. Scherzi Musicali – Ite O pompæ fallaces: II. O cor meum (03:35)
1-10. Scherzi Musicali – Ite O pompæ fallaces: III. Revertar ad amatorem (00:21)
1-11. Scherzi Musicali – Ite O pompæ fallaces: IV. Erravi a torrente dulcedinis (02:16)
1-12. Scherzi Musicali – Ite O pompæ fallaces: V. O Jesu amantissime (01:09)
1-13. Scherzi Musicali – Ite O pompæ fallaces: VI. Ergo mundanæ vanitates (02:27)
1-14. Scherzi Musicali – Obstupescite gentes: I. Obstupescite gentes (04:07)
1-15. Scherzi Musicali – Obstupescite gentes: II. Recedant vetera (aria) (02:24)
1-16. Scherzi Musicali – Obstupescite gentes: III. Sistat aër, sistat tellus (01:58)
1-17. Scherzi Musicali – Obstupescite gentes: IV. Dum in sacramento (03:20)
1-18. Scherzi Musicali – Obstupescite gentes: V. Recedant vetera (coro) (01:55)
1-19. Scherzi Musicali – Ecce panis angelorum: I. Ecce panis angelorum (02:13)
1-20. Scherzi Musicali – Ecce panis angelorum: II. Bone pastor (01:11)
1-21. Scherzi Musicali – Ecce panis angelorum: III. Tu nos pasce (01:00)
1-22. Scherzi Musicali – Ecce panis angelorum: IV. Homo quidam (01:41)
1-23. Scherzi Musicali – Ecce panis angelorum: V. Quia parata sunt omnia (01:39)