6 am - 7 am

6 A.M. A time of brief respite, before telephones and televisions assault us, and we may be still and patient enough for Palestrina's Missa Papae Marcelli sung by the Westminster Cathedral Choir (Hyperion). It was once thought that this work saved music in a time when dogmatic cardinals wanted to forbid the use of polyphony. Scholarship does a disservice to our imaginations by illustrating a more mundane reality. Listening to "Kyrie", you can believe that it would have been persuasive.
Voices are raised in praise. Perhaps it is enough to believe that they believe, but if that feels hypocritical, then you could always turn to Monteverdi's "Lamento d'Arianna" performed by the Deller Consort (Vanguard). It speaks of another kind of love and sorrow.

1. *Choir of Westminster Cathedral - Kyrie (4:28)
2. *Choir of Westminster Cathedral - Gloria (6:28)
3. *Choir of Westminster Cathedral - Credo (9:47)
4. *Choir of Westminster Cathedral - Sanctus (3:50)
5. *Choir of Westminster Cathedral - Benedictus (4:11)
6. *Choir of Westminster Cathedral - Agnus Dei I (4:59)
7. Choir of Westminster Cathedral - Agnus Dei II (5:09)
8. *Monteverdi, Claudio - Monteverdi: Il sesto libro de' madrigali - Lamento d'Arianna - Lasciatemi morire (2:13)
9. Monteverdi, Claudio - Monteverdi: Il sesto libro de' madrigali - Lamento d'Arianna - Ahi che non pu... (4:28)

*Different to compilation )