Contents

THE NATURE OF THE SOUND FILES

The sound files produced for this web site do not seek to electronically represent what we might imagine the soundscape of an a cappella ensemble singing, in say the Sistine Chapel, to be.

Rather, they seek to present a sound scape that is fundamentally transparent in its texture. To this end we have quite purposefully selected timbral qualities of "living" voices to best effect this ideology.

The sound files, therefore, do not present a dense and essentially homogeneous sound regardless of the respective ranges of the part writing. In contrast they seek to explore some of the wealth of the possibilities of vocal ensemble writing during the 15th century.

Clearly integral to polyphonic settings of the Mass, is the idea that within a collective of four parts various timbral combinations of different voice combinations be examined. These soundscape explorations are seemingly not ad hoc, and thus we have sought through clear timbral differentiation to represent these.

PLAYBACK TIPS

These sound files have been generated through a set of artificial filters used to obtain an optimum acoustic result and plausible ambiant properties. Use of sound enhancing software is not advised, although use of a simple equilization filter may prove beneficial or illustrative. Very good results are obtained if the files can be played through a dedicated stereophonic unit with optimal spacing of speakers to gain some idea of the spatialisation effects present in each synthesised recording.

The sound files are compressed using the MP3 algorithms and can be downloaded, free of charge, by clicking on the relevant links below. More details on each work can be found in the sections Caron's Masses and Caron's Chansons.

THE SOUND FILES

Masses

Missa Accueilly m'a la belle

1. Kyrie 4'19" (5.9 MB)
2. Gloria 5'53" (8.0 MB)
3. Credo 8'26" (11.5 MB)
4. Sanctus 6'32" (8.9 MB)
5. Agnus Dei 5'00" (6.8 MB)

[Go to commentary]

Missa Clemens et benigna (ModE M.1.13 version)

1. Kyrie 1'48" (2.4 MB)
2. Gloria 5'12' (7.1 MB)
3. Credo 7'58" (10.9 MB)
4. Sanctus 3'40" (5 MB)
5. Agnus Dei 2'24" (3.3 MB)

[Go to commentary]

Missa Clemens et benigna (TrentC 89 version)

1. Kyrie 1'48" (2.4 MB)
2. Gloria 5'09" (7 MB)
3. Credo 6'29" (8.9 MB)
4. Sanctus 3'40 (5 MB)
5. Agnus Dei 2'24" (3.3 MB)

[Go to commentary]

Missa Jhesus autem transiens

1. Kyrie 2'55" (4 MB)
2. Gloria 5'27" (7.4 MB)
3. Credo 5'33" (7.6 MB)
4. Sanctus 5'33" (7.6 MB)
5. Agnus Dei 4'03" (4 MB)

[Go to commentary]

Missa L'homme armé

1. Kyrie 2'19" (3.1 MB)
2. Gloria 6'05" (8.3 MB)
3. Credo 8'24" (11.5 MB)
4. Sanctus 6'30" (8.9 MB)
5. Agnus Dei 4'57" (6.8 MB)

[Go to commentary]

Missa Sanguis sanctorum

1. Kyrie 2'00" (2.7 MB)
2. Gloria 5'47" (7.9 MB)
3. Credo 7'45" (10.6 MB)
4. Sanctus 5'01" (6.9 MB)

[Go to commentary]

Chansons

Accueilly m'a la belle
[Sound file] [Sample Diplomatic edition][Commentary]

Mort ou mercy
[Sound file] [Sample Diplomatic edition][Commentary]

These files are under regular review. Thus, in context of the soundscapes generated and the application of musica ficta, for example, what you hear today you may not hear tomorrow.