Catalonian composer Joan Cererols was a mainstay at the monastery in Montserrat, placed high atop a mountain just outside Barcelona, in the seventeenth century. Cererols was so important to Montserrat's musical life that for decades after his death verses were sung in honor of his memory on the anniversary of his passing. Cererols' manuscript music burned when Napoleon Bonaparte's troops laid waste to Montserrat in 1811, but several of his works have been rescued in part thanks to the existence of copies made by his students or others who had reason to want to carry Cererols' music out of the monastery. The major works on this La mà de guido release, Missa "martyrum" and Missa "angelorum," were part of a cycle of six masses based on the first six Gregorian psalm tones; the other choral pieces are motets for double chorus and already reasonably well known. The program is divided by two organ Tientos by renowned Spanish composers of this era.
The performance, however, has some serious drawbacks. The
Cor de cambra Francesc Valls under Pere Lluís Biosca is OK; while a little lacking in cohesion, it sounds like the average community church choir. The soloists, drawn from the chorus, are not terribly good -- the soprano soloist in the Missa "martyrum" sings in a strident, somewhat loud and unattractive tone that is slightly errant in pitch. Also, organist David Malet seems to have issues with keeping a stable sense of tempo, even in his solo pieces. The Tiento de falses del 7è to of Bernabé Iriberia starts out too slowly and only grows more hesitant and unsure as it progresses. There is plenty of room in the recorded catalog for Baroque Spanish choral literature, and La mà de guido is at the leading edge of labels willing to record such material in terms of depth and rarity. Some of their recordings have been quite good, but this is certainly not one of the better ones.