The Forebears of Palestrina

Catherine Bott presents a programme of music by Palestrina and some of the composers who may have influenced his now familiar style. The performances come from a concert given at St Paul's Church in Knightsbridge by The BBC Singers, conducted by Peter Phillips. What Peter Phillips wanted to achieve when he chose this repertoire was to show "where Palestrina came from". We know that he came from Palestrina - a small hill-town not far from Rome - but this concert was designed to find out how he developed his compositional style - who his major influences were, and which other composers he may have known. Composers such as Carpentras, Firmin Lebel, Josquin Desprez and Costanzo Festa all had a degree of influence on the great Vatican composer - and each has at least one work in the programme. The programme also features pieces by Palestrina himself, including the 6-part Pentecostal motet "Dum complerentur" and his 5-part setting of the "Lamentations of Jeremiah".

PLAYLIST:

Palestrina - Dum complerentur à6
BBC Singers
Conducted by Peter Phillips
[BBC recording]

Lebel - Puer natus est
BBC Singers
Conducted by Peter Phillips
[BBC recording]

Josquin des Prez - Inviolata integra et casta es Maria
BBC Singers
Conducted by Peter Phillips
[BBC recording]

Festa - Inviolata integra et casta es Maria
BBC Singers
Conducted by Peter Phillips
[BBC recording]

Festa - Quam pulchra es à4
BBC Singers
Conducted by Peter Phillips
[BBC recording]

Carpentras - Lamentations à4
BBC Singers
Conducted by Peter Phillips
[BBC recording]

Palestrina - Lamentations à5
BBC Singers
Conducted by Peter Phillips
[BBC recording].