Et Jesum: Motets for Solo Voice

Editor's Choice Gramophone Magazine July 2004

"For many people, myself included, the name Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611) conjures up the sound of massed voices in one of his inspired and inspiring Mass settings. While John Eliot Gardiner was talking to me for this month's second feature (see page 30), he recalled George Malcolm's Westminster Cathedral recordings, full of fervour and passion. Here is another side of the composer, on a chamber scale."
(Gramophone)

The fame of Tomás Luis de Victoria spread beyond the frontiers of Spain and extended across 16th Century Europe. In Holland as well as in England, his polyphonic musical pieces inspired many transcriptions for lute and solo voice. This intimate repertoire reflects the care that Victoria used to take with each detail; he was one of the first composers to introduce instruments to accompany singing in churches. Born in Vitoria-Gasteiz in 1971, Carlos Mena began to specialize as a countertenor at the master classes of Charles Brett. His studies were carried out in the field of the Renaissance and Baroque at the prestigious Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, under the direction of Richard Levitt and René Jacobs. As a soloist, he sings regularly with Hespèrion XXI, Il Seminario Musicale, Concerto Italiano and Concerto Vocale. This recording represents his first collaboration with harmonia mundi. Juan Carlos Rivera is regarded as one of the leading Spanish early music performers. He leads the groups La Correnta and the plucked-string instrument ensemble Armoniosi Concerti. With the latter, he recorded for harmonia mundi the disc Zarambeques which received excellent international reviews (HMI 987030).