Composer: Jean-Noël Hamal
Performer: Scherzi Musicali
Conductor: Nicolas Achten
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Musique en Wallonie
Catalogue: MEW2098
Release: 2021
Size: 2.54 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Astra Cœli
01. I. Astra cœli
02. II. Cessate cœli turbines
03. III. Contenta ridendo
04. IV. Confusa in mesta horrore
05. V. Ah! si languet cor
06. VI. Ad bellum, fide gentes
07. VII. Miles fortis
Ite O pompæ fallaces
08. I. Ite O pompæ fallaces
09. II. O cor meum
10. III. Revertar ad amatorem
11. IV. Erravi a torrente dulcedinis
12. V. O Jesu amantissime
13. VI. Ergo mundanæ vanitates
Obstupescite gentes
14. I. Obstupescite gentes
15. II. Recedant vetera (aria)
16. III. Sistat aër, sistat tellus
17. IV. Dum in sacramento
18. V. Recedant vetera (coro)
Ecce panis angelorum
19. I. Ecce panis angelorum
20. II. Bone pastor
21. III. Tu nos pasce
22. IV. Homo quidam
23. V. Quia parata sunt omnia
Jean-Noël Hamal’s musical language is a perfect reflection of this transitional period in which the Baroque galant style merges into the classical style. One senses in Hamal’s music a communicative vitality, a charmingly poetic note, a keen sense of elegant melody and a theatricality in dynamic contrasts which in some ways evokes the Mannheim school. As soon as he was able, he exploited the ample space available by writing works for two choirs and two orchestras. He seems also to have had a very pronounced preference for major tonalities (he even went so far as to write an astonishingly cheerful Dies irae in C major) and for very readable harmonies, although these sometimes risk being too predictable or conventional. But he was also capable of being a visionary: by their tripartite structure and the autonomous form his symphonies make him a precursor of the classical symphony. He is equally capable of entirely unexpected surprises and attractive details, as is apparent in his motets delivered respecting the practices then in force in Liège by Nicolas Achten and Scherzi Musicali ensemble, mixing subtlety and theatricality.