The Flemish-born Giaches de Wert was one of many foreigners to dominate the Italian music scene in the mid to late sixteenth century, therefore to this day his music is largely unknown. It is the second of three books of Motets which appears on this disc, written when his skill as a madrigalist had reached its height.
As part of the Kings College Choir, the choral scholars of Collegium Regale perform independently of the choir, singing a repertoire that encompasses fifteenth-century sacred music, jazz, folksongs and pop. Directed by Stephen Cleobury, the renowned director of King’s College Choir and the BBC Singers.
"Considering that he was in charge of a chapel, the Flemish composer Gaches de Wert, who worked at the Mantuan court from 1565 until his death in 1596, published comparatively few motets. His reputation rests chiefly on his large output of Madrigals: intense, high-minded creations that strongly influenced the young Monteverdi. The 13 works here, however, from the second of his three published motet collections, are impressive, subtly, seamlessly structure and richly scored. As with his madrigals, the text is de Wert’s master. Collegium Regale (the choral scholars of King’s College, Cambridge) sing with passion." *** SP
“If anything points to Flemish-born Giaches de Wert’s undersung influence on the great Monteverdi it is the title track of this exquisite new release by that sublime subset of Stephen Cleobury’s Kings College Cambridge Chapel Choir, Collegium Regale.” *****
