The unfamiliar-looking language on the cover of this disc is Valencian (which some consider a dialect of Catalan, others a distinct language), and
Lluís Vich Vocalis is a noted all-male vocal ensemble from that city. The Latin texts of these a cappella vocal works are translated into Valencian, Spanish, and English, but the booklet notes are in Valencian and Spanish only. Not much is lost for speakers of those languages; the notes are brief (those about the music pertain mostly to the basic facts about the composers and their positions vis-à-vis the resurgent Catholicism that loosely united them -- Byrd's Catholic music is generally more ornate than what he wrote for the Anglican church), and the music largely speaks for itself. The music is performed with two or three voices per part, and for lovers of an all-male sound in Renaissance music, especially of the purified Counter Reformation variety, this is an attractive release. The richness that paired voices can provide is hazardous for singers, but the minefields are negotiated nicely here, and the right note of disciplined exaltation is struck. The singers of
Lluís Vich Vocalis are all adults; this is not made clear in the booklet, but it would seem that at least some of the music has been transposed downward to low male voice ranges. The music is not unknown, but much of it is not terribly familiar; the vigorous Missa Regina Coeli of Jacobus de Kerle is a nice find, and for a good sample of the music-making of the chorus one should sample the absolutely luminous small motet O vos omnes of Palestrina, in which eight lines of poetry move through a range of somber colors without ever losing a sense of repose. The sumptuous detail of the singing comes through thanks to excellent engineering, applied in a Valencian university chapel. A fine example of male ensemble singing, with a certain exotic quality that will recommend it all the more strongly to listeners in non-Iberian settings.