Discography
Unearthing forgotten works is a foundational principle for The Suspicious Cheese Lords. We are sometimes astonished by how much marvelous Renaissance music we discover sitting on bookshelves, in library stacks, or in manuscript form collecting dust and waiting for an advocate.
The Cheese Lords’ recordings reflect our earnest attempt to share superb, yet neglected, compositions with the world. Our five recordings have brought forth 70 tracks of glorious “ear candy”—and some would even say “food for the soul.” We’ll let you be the judge. Enjoy our interpretations on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Bandcamp, and more.
Mæstro di Capella – Music of Elzéar Genet (Carpentras)
(2002) Produced by Tina Chancey; liner notes by Richard Sherr
“…[a] nicely atmospheric recording.… [the Cheese Lords’] interpretive response to the music is skilled. It’s a valuable addition to a discography that is much too short.”
– J.F. Weber, Fanfare Magazine
“Remarkable music!”
– Robert Aubrey Davis, host of Millennium of Music
“This is an enthusiastic group of singers who, thankfully, go at the music full-throttle.”
– Craig Zeichner, Early Music America
The Cheese Lords’ first recording features 13 previously unrecorded tracks! Our interest in Elzéar Genet was piqued after hearing Alexander Blachly and Pomerium perform one of his Lamentation settings. During our research at the Library of Congress, we were surprised to find that so few of Genet’s works had ever been recorded. Also known as Carpentras—the town in France where he was born—Genet was the first musician to hold the title of master of the Papal Chapel. This recording features a sampling of Genet’s musical output: one of his five Mass settings, one of his 14 Magnificats, and seven of his motets. Some of our favorites include the sonorous Virgo Prudentissima, the exuberant Jubilate Deo, and the reverent Hæc est illa dulcis rosa. So why did this Renaissance master and his music become so overlooked? It probably has to do with the popularity of one of Genet’s successors in Rome — a certain Italian musician hailing from the town of Palestrina.
Missa L’homme armé – Sacred Music of Ludwig Senfl
(2004) Produced by Tina Chancey; liner notes by Honey Meconi
“…thanks are due to the Suspicious Cheese Lords, who serve up the composer’s Missa l’homme armé and a handful of smaller sacred works in excellent performances.”
– Craig Zeichner, Early Music America
“…it is every bit as outstanding and professional as its predecessor. Either disc will make friends of early music (never mind Renaissance enthusiasts) salivate for more.”
– JFL, IONARTS
“…this record is a celebration…. With such stunning selections…the Suspicious Cheese Lords prove that they are utterly serious about their music.”
– Michael Lohr, Renaissance Magazine
As a Washington, D.C.-based ensemble, the Cheese Lords have had the good fortune to perform at several embassies and ambassadorial residences. After the success of our Genet recording, the Swiss cultural counselor suggested Ludwig Senfl for our next project. Senfl is better known for his secular pieces; most of his sacred works are unrecorded. We quickly discovered this composer was certainly worthy of our attention and time. The result: nine tracks (out of 10) of early music not recorded before!
The title of our sophomore album refers to L’homme armé, perhaps the most popular secular song during the Renaissance. How do we know it was popular? More than 40 composers used this tune as the cantus firmus in their setting of the Mass ordinary. Amazingly, Senfl’s L’homme armé Mass setting was unrecorded!
Also included on this disc are his five-voice Miserere mei, Deus, a Te Deum with a reconstructed alto line by Washington scholar Mike Donaldson, and a piece in quodlibet form (think Renaissance-era mash-up) featuring the Virgo prudentissima chant melody mixed with the popular secular song, Fortuna Desperata.
Vivat rex! – Sacred Choral Music of Jean Mouton
(2007) Produced by Tina Chancey; liner notes by Thomas G. MacCracken
“…this is a group that likes to explore the obscure. They certainly make the Mouton their own. This is beautiful music, with an almost celestial quality to it….the singing… is lucid and crystal clear….A beautiful blend of voices that gives the CD a rich, warm, intimate sound….Another bonus is an impeccable sense of rhythm – a quality that is far too often ignored.”
– Beth Adelman, Early Music America
2006 marked the Lords’ 10th anniversary, and we began exploring Renaissance composers for a new recording. Fortune again smiled on us when Thomas MacCracken, the editor of Jean Mouton’s complete works edition published by
the American Institute of Musicology, approached us. Compared to Genet and Senfl, Jean Mouton is a better-known Renaissance master. With Tom’s expert guidance, our third album premiered 13 tracks of previously unrecorded Mouton compositions.
Remarkably, one of these pieces is his Missa Alma redemptoris mater based on the florid Gregorian chant. Renaissance music theorist Heinrich Glarean specifically mentioned this setting in his treatise Dodecachordan (1547), saying that Mouton “…composed some very important masses, approved by the Supreme Pontiff, Leo X, such masses as Alma Redemptoris and very many others which are in all hands.” Among the motets, one of our performance favorites is the lovely Quam pulchra es…carissima, set to the words of the Song of Songs, chapter seven. As most of Mouton’s Christmas compositions have been recorded by others, we turned to his unrecorded short motet, Puer natus est nobis. The piece ends with “Vivat rex,” [“Long live the king”] which became the album’s title.
In Terra Pax – Renaissance Music for Advent and Christmas
(2013) Produced by Tina Chancey; liner notes by Noel O’Regan
[On Palestrina’s Missa O admirabile commercium]:
“It is one of the most harmonious, beautiful, and sublime that Pier Luigi ever wrote: a Mass that never grows old, but which, heard a thousand times, produces always the same effects on its audience, and which in every age appeals to the current taste, as though it were a new production of every composer who actually elevates himself above his contemporaries.”
– Giuseppe Baini, Memorie storico-critiche della vita de delle opere di Giovanni Peirluigi da Palestrina (1828)
Although we’ve performed many delightful Christmas pieces over the years (both recorded and not), we knew we’d have to take a different approach for an Advent and Christmas-themed album. Rather than focus on one composer, this recording features a variety of pieces from Renaissance composers representing modern-day France, Germany, Italy, the Low Countries, Slovenia, and Spain.
We’re pleased that our fourth recording contains only three pieces recorded by others. We included another unrecorded work by Genet, a fantastic six-voice motet by Thomas Crecquillon, and a setting of In dulci jubilo written in common time instead of the usual triple meter. Four pieces are set to the rather ubiquitous text, Christus natus est. Two pieces we truly consider gems of the recording are Dominique Phinot’s Ave Maria and Ivo de Vento’s O magnum mysterium.
Since many regard Palestrina as the greatest of Renaissance composers, one might assume all his works have been recorded. This is far from the truth. In Terra Pax also premieres a previously unrecorded Palestrina parody Mass, based on his own five-voice motet, O admirabile commercium. The 1911 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica waxed, “Palestrina-scholars will hardly think us singular for placing [O admirabile and some other Masses] on the same plane as the Missa Papae Marcelli.” Give it a listen and let us know what you think!
Illumina Oculos Meos: Sacred Music by Palestrina and de Silva
(2023) Produced by Charlie Pilzer; liner notes by Jessie Ann Owens
“The overall tone is one of sincerity and charm…with welcoming warmth and a dearth of off-putting pretensions…Time seems to stop as the singers’ voices twist and wind harmoniously through and around each other like graceful vines on a trellis, full of freshness and vitality.”
– Linda Holt, Fanfare
“Very fine singing and interpreting…a most welcome offering…Warmly recommended.”
– James A. Altena, Fanfare
“Their singing is arrestingly beautiful. The purity and richness of tone, exquisite balance among the registers, and precise, elegant diction are extraordinary and breathtaking….[T]his technical brilliance is placed at the service of singing that is intensely heartfelt and communicative.”
– Ken Meltzer, Fanfare
“The motet and Mass might be the heart of the recording, but the Magnificat is not to be missed…and may we listeners rejoice too, to have the opportunity to hear so many of these works for the first time, and performed so well.”
– Karen M. Cook, Early Music America
The Devil went down to Clairvaux, but he didn’t find a soul to steal! (Wondering how a Charlie Daniels song connects to 16th century polyphony? Read our liner notes!) Our fifth album, Illumina Oculos Meos: Sacred Music by Palestrina and de Silva, is another world-premiere recording that brings to light more Renaissance treasures. While researching the Palestrina Mass setting for In Terra Pax, we were encouraged to explore some of his other unrecorded works. Bringing more of this prolific master’s compositions from notes on a page to tracks on an album was a project we tackled with enthusiasm.
The Cheese Lords are therefore honored to present Palestrina’s Missa Illumina oculos meos, a parody Mass based on the unrecorded six-voice motet of Andreas de Silva, a (possibly Spanish) composer who spent time in Rome and Mantua. It’s delightful to listen to de Silva’s motet and then hear how Palestrina makes its themes and passages his own. This Mass is Palestrina’s third-longest and was composed early in his career, around the same time as the well-known Missa Papae Marcelli. Yet the Illumina was not published until 1600, several years after his death. Why the Papae Marcelli became one of Palestrina’s calling cards while the equally enchanting Illumina languished in obscurity is a question to which we may never know the answer.
Perhaps our favorite piece on this recording is Palestrina’s Magnificat Secundi toni for five voices. Its myriad moments of sonic splendor made us wonder how this gem had lain unrecorded for so long. Thankfully, the single manuscript source in which it is found has survived to the present day. To round out the Palestrina portion of this recording, we selected five of his settings of Offertory texts from different feast days throughout the liturgical year (all but two of which were unrecorded). While each setting is first-rate, Domine convertere and Sperent in te appear most frequently in our concerts. We conclude with Laetare Jerusalem, an eight-part, double choir piece (also unrecorded) by Francesco Soriano, who is believed to have studied with Palestrina while in Rome.
Are the unrecorded works of a familiar master like Palestrina more worthy of attention than unrecorded works of comparable quality by lesser-known names? We think not, and we hope that after listening you’ll agree!