Scattered Ashes – Magnificat

Magnificat’s twenty-fifth anniversary recording, Scattered Ashes, features contrasting and parallel works of great passion inspired by the meditations of the infamous Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola.

These Latin settings by eight great vocal composers of the sixteenth century display a variety of scoring, textures, and harmonic language that is mirrored in their intensity and attention to detail.

Josquin’s Miserere – referred to in the literature as ‘epic’, ‘massive’, ‘courageous’, and ‘bold’, similarities in stature and significance frequently drawn between the music of Josquin and Beethoven – opens the programme. Josquin’s musical architecture and sensitivity to the text combine to produce a work of astonishing delicacy, showing kaleidoscopic twists and turns, and rich and subtle use of texture. There is, too, a remarkable ability to exploit and illustrate the text with heartfelt empathy. Both challenging and thrilling to sing, Josquin's Miserere perfectly demonstrates why Magnificat’s world-class reputation for clarity, flawless intonation, and purity of tone is second to none.