Editorial Reviews

Helios is the imprint reserved by Hyperion for the purpose of reducing the price of older catalog items that have either run out of stock or have gone stale at full price. The great benefit of the Helios label is that it brings into the realm of general affordability recordings of excellence that even diligent fans of the label may have missed the first time around. In this instance, the Westminster Cathedral Choir under James O'Donnell and the period instrument wind group His Majesty's Sagbutts & Cornetts present a winning realization of Lassus' "Missa Bell' Amfitrit'altera" as it might have been performed in Bavaria at the beginning of the seventeenth century.

This particular Lassus mass has been recorded a few more times than most others have, and by good choirs. What sets the Westminster Cathedral Choir recording apart from the rest is the contextualization and liturgical placement of the work, fashioned after a pre-Vatican II service for the Feast Day of a martyr-saint. To fill in the holes, O'Donnell utilizes the wind band in canzoni of Hans Leo Hassler and organ music by Christian Erbach, and it is in the latter that we find paraphrases of the appropriate sequences. The recording, made in Westminster Cathedral, is both big and a tad bright, but it suits the music excellently well. Lassus' polychoral music is not so much antiphonal as merely chordal, but the double chorus sings these ringing sonorities in a manner that truly brings the heavens down to Earth. The period brass band alternate enough in the course of the program that one does not grow weary of their limited tonal palette, and the organ playing, handled by three different keyboard players, is splendid. "Missa Bell' Amfitrit'altera" is a very successful reconstruction of a past event that occurs in a specific place in time, such as has been attempted by Paul van Nevel, Andrew Manze, and others since. While all of these projects have their merits, "Missa Bell' Amfitrit'altera" provides both the opportunity for time travel in addition to an enjoyable listening experience for those who prefer to remain in the present. Uncle Dave Lewis, All Music Guide

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