Orlandus Lassus' Prophetiae Sibyllarum is the earliest known and weirdest of his 2,000 or so works, and it is isn't recorded very often. Although the first modern edition of Prophetiae Sibyllarum appeared as early as 1937, it was absent from record until Miroslav Venhoda and the
Prague Madrigal Singers recorded it in Paris in 1963. In the four decades that followed it has achieved about half a dozen performances on record, despite its revered status as a milestone within the Renaissance "Musica Reservata," not to mention one of the quirkiest compositions found on the other side of Gesualdo. Set to 12 anonymous poems that first accompanied portraits of the Sibyls in a 1505 edition of Filippo de Barbieri's treatise Sibyllarum et prophetarum de Christo vaticinia, Prophetiae Sibyllarum is one of the only sacred Renaissance works steeped in pagan lore, devoted to the Sibyls who prophesied to the ancient Greeks and Romans. While in antiquity there was only one "historical" sibyl, by the time Barbieri's treatise appeared, the number had swelled to 12; each sibyl had a name and a distinct style of attire in addition to unique tendencies of prognostication.
This Stradivarius recording of Prophetiae Sibyllarum by vocal group
De Labyrintho is a very professional and accomplished rendering of this difficult piece. Although the group would have had the benefit of being able to stop and start in the context of a recording session, it is hard for a singing group to maintain the locus of pitch in this work owing to its disorienting use of chromaticism. Here the pitch is true for all 13 movements, both within individual pieces and in the set as a whole. Tempi are a little on the quick side as this performance of the Prophetiae Sibyllarum rings in at 24 minutes, yet this is a good mean in a work in which timing is everything and the final length can vary widely. The recording by
Cantus Cölln, which takes the Prophetiae Sibyllarum at a breakneck pace, brings it in at just over 20 minutes, whereas the
Hilliard Ensemble's poky-slow version lasts just short of 30.
While this is a very good Prophetiae Sibyllarum, the disc really comes alive during the filler, particularly in the Magnificat "Praeter rerum seriem," which is like the clouds opening up after the dark, overcast atmosphere of the Prophetiae Sibyllarum bids farewell to the 12th and final Sybil.
De Labyrintho, led by
Walter Testolin and featuring the creamy soprano of Bronislawa Falinska, hails from Italy, but both
Testolin and Falinska are educated in England and they place a premium on clear text projection, constant pitch, and seamless ensemble blend. Although the use of female voices might not be "historically correct" for the Prophetiae Sibyllarum, it is certainly preferable in terms of its content and sound, and the excellence of the female voices here, plus the careful sense of pacing, might give this recording an edge over its nearest competition, that of
Hilliard Ensemble. If one takes interest in Lasso's most secretive and reserved creation, one may proceed here without reservation.