THE TALLIS SCHOLARS & PETER PHILLIPS II

The Strict Canonic Settings

Josquin des Prez, the leading composer of the early Renaissance in Europe, died on August 27, 1521. To commemorate the 500th anniversary of the composer’s death and to close the season, the Tallis Scholars and their music director Peter Phillips, acclaimed around the world for their standard-setting performances of Josquin’s works, bring an extraordinary project to the Pierre Boulez Saal: Over the course of four days, they will perform Josquin’s complete masses in what will be the ensemble’s first-ever cyclical presentation of these works.

Both in this early Missa ad fugam and the Missa sine nomine, written several years later, Josquin strictly adhered to a canonic pattern whose mathematical rigidity contributes greatly to the fascination of these two masses—even though, or maybe because, much of it goes unheard.