Plorer, Gemir, Crier: Homage to the Golden Voice of Johannes Ockeghem

The oeuvre of Johannes Ockeghem influenced a considerable number of
musicians who were contemporaries with, or came immediately after, the
Master of Tours. Many of these talented composers took one of his works
as a model, thus bearing eloquent testimony to their admiration for him.
All of them visited him and helped popularize his image as a benevolent
father figure to this amazing caste of singers and composers. Ockeghem s
death at a ripe old age in 1497 greatly affected the brilliant generation that
was in the process of making the transition between the Middle Ages and the
Renaissance, and naturally led to the creation of some deeply moving music.
Four motets covering a wide stylistic range, a complete polyphonic mass,
and an extraordinary poem of lamentation make up this touching tribute to
Johannes Ockeghem from his colleagues and friends. The works assembled
on this CD represent the high point of Franco-Flemish counterpoint, and
illustrate the imperceptible shift from Middle Ages to Renaissance thanks
to the sublime music sublimated by the death of the great master. They are
sung here according to the tradition of the great cathedrals and collegiate
churches: a cappella, with one or two singers to a part, as the works require.