Jacob Obrecht: Masses

The music of the Renaissance appears to reflect little of the dangers, horrors and violent conflicts of its time. Music written during the Hundred Years War or the French invasion of Italy gives hardly any impression to today's ears of the precariousness of existence of which its composers, singers and listeners must have continually

been aware. Nor do the two masses by Jacob Obrecht (1457/8 - 1505), presented here by Beauty Farm, betray anything of the restless spirit of the age, despite them both being based on models referring to suffering and misery.