Cappella Pratensis & Rebecca Stewart - Johannes Ockeghem: Missa Mi-mi (2018)

All gathered around a single music stand, the Cappella Pratensis sings from facsimiles of 15th-century manuscripts, adding plainchant between the movements of a Mass, using the pronunciation of Latin particular to the Low Countries in the 15th century--all in an effort to get as close as possible to the sound composers such as Josquin and Ockeghem intended. On this record, Rebecca Stewart and her singers bring their unique approach to Ockeghem's famously somber Missa Mi-mi--with extraordinary results. The Cappella doesn't have the robust sound or sense of momentum the Clerks' Group brings to this Mass; rather, their performance has a gentleness and an extraordinary stillness about it that feel genuinely devout. (Their singing of the chant in particular is quietly astounding.) The unusual timbre and exotic vowel sounds the Cappella Pratensis uses may take some getting used to (listeners who want a more conventional sound in this Mass will prefer the Clerks' Group or the Hilliard Ensemble), but anyone who loves Renaissance sacred music should hear this remarkable performance. -- Matthew Westphal