Ad Vesperas

The city of Liège, capital of a large diocese and an imperial principality, was described in the 17th century as a “paradise for priests” because of its imposing cathedral, its seven collegiate churches, its thirty parish churches and its numerous abbeys and monasteries.
The present recording is devoted to two manuscripts of the polyphonic repertoire used in the Liege orders in the first half of the 17th century:
the “Grand livre de chœur de Saint-Lambert” and the “Livre d’orgue des frères croisiers”.
The fifty four- to eight-part motets compiled in the “Grand livre de chœur” are from the hand of Liège masters of the first half of the 17th century, all of whom, with the exception of Gilles Hayne, worked at the cathedral. These motets illustrate the continuity of the rite in honour of the patron saint of the diocese, Bishop Lambert, as well as other saints who were popular in Liège at the time. Following the traditional composition of the evening service, the Vespers performed alternate between psalms and antiphons, ending with a particularly sonorous Magnificat by Lambert de Sayve, preserved in the National Library in Ljubljana and recorded for the first time for this CD. For their recording of an evening vespers at Liège Cathedral, the ensembles Polyharmonique and Concerto Imperiale, conducted by Alexander Schneider and Fabien Moulaert, rely on works by composers around Lambert de Sayve, each of whom had a connection with Liège. Their programme is characterised by great stylistic and musical coherence.