An album of intimacy: Palestrina 500 from Augsburg Cathedral Boys’ Choir

Palestrina 500: Palestrina, Pierre de Manchicourt, William Byrd, Lassus, Victoria; Augsburger Domsingknaben, I Fedeli, Stefan Steinemann; ARS Produktion
Reviewed by Andreas Rey (7 September 2025)

A brotherhood in which noise would be replaced by silence, in which the soul would communicate with the soul, without noise, obligations, or outside crowds.

To mark the 500th birthday of Palestrina, this new disc on ARS Produktion from the Augsburg Cathedral Boys’ Choir (Augsburger Domsingknaben) centres on the magnificent eight-part Missa Fratres ego enim accepi, which Palestrina created as an elaborate parody mass based on his motet of the same name. The mass was first published posthumously in 1601. Conducted by Stefan Steinemann, the boys and young men of the choir are joined by the period instruments of I Fedeli. 

The Augsburg Cathedral Boys’ Choir is a relatively new choir with a long history. The tradition of a boys choir at Augsburg Cathedral dates back to the 15th century, but by the 1860s the choir was dissolved, to be replaced by a mixed voice choir. In its present form, the Augsburg Cathedral Boys’ Choir dates back to 1976. In 2020, Stefan Steinemann became the youngest cathedral choirmaster in Germany, taking over the overall musical direction of Augsburg Cathedral and thus also the artistic direction of the Augsburg Cathedral Boys’ Choir.

This is an album of intimacy, an album that is as much internal as it is coming from the inside, an album that is best listened to before dawn disturbs the unfolding of the intimate inner space with its noises, crowds, and obligations. The music of the encounter between the listener’s universe and the night that surrounds him or her.

If there is one adjective that aptly describes Palestrina’s masses, it is ‘intimacy’. And Palestrina’s music, which is the focus of this recording, is indeed music of that most inner nature. Even his final Stabat Mater, with its anger and fierce restraint, remains music that comes from that night; a music of a soul, addressing a soul. It seems to emerge from that night without disturbing its silence, the language of the deepest intimacy. No dialogue amid the noise.

The Palestrina mass around which this disc is structured is called Fratres ego enim acepi – Brother, I have accepted. And it is indeed toward brotherhood that they seem to be heading. Brotherhood with silence first and foremost, but also with other composers of the same sensibility from 1500 to 1600, such as William Byrd (1543-1623). Pierre de Manchicourt (1510-1564), Orlando di Lasso (1532-1594) and Thomas Luis de Victoria (1548-1611).  Fraternity of music with silence, as the tessitura of the children of the Augsburger Domsingknaben and even the brass instruments seem unwilling to break this crystal cocoon. 

Although these composers shared the same century, they did not share the same country. Palestrina worked in Rome, Orlando di Lasso, after a time in Italy, in the Bavaria, William Byrd in England, and both Thomas Luis de Victoria and Pierre de Manchicourt in Spain. This recording therefore offers music lovers a kind of brotherhood of spirit, feelings, and intimacy. A brotherhood between composers, and, as you listen to this disc, a brotherhood between the listener and these composers across the centuries.

The Augsburger Domsingknaben conducted by choir director Stefan Steinemann, performs this music with such purity that it seems timeless, as falling from another world. He even manages to unify the various compositions on this album as if they were a single work, simply with different instrumental accompaniments and characters depending on the composer, like satin woven by different hands.

Fraternity thus reaches even the listener. It seems to invite us to enter a silent yet dialoguing community, like a community of Trappist monks. Moreover, the name of Palestrina’s mass is ‘Fratres…’, not ‘Frater ego enim accepti’. It addresses several brothers. A brotherhood in which noise would be replaced by silence, in which the soul would communicate with the soul, without noise, obligations, or outside crowds.

Reviewed by Andreas Rey

GIOVANNI PIERLUIGI DA PALESTRINA (1525–1594)
  Fratres ego enim accepi

PIERRE DE MANCHICOURT (1510–1564)
  Osculetur me (Prima Pars)
  Trahe me (Secunda Pars)

GIOVANNI PIERLUIGI DA PALESTRINA
  Kyrie – Missa Fratres ego enim accepi
  Gloria – Missa Fratres ego enim accepi

WILLIAM BYRD (1543–1623)
  Miserere mei, Deus

GIOVANNI PIERLUIGI DA PALESTRINA

  Ricercar del terzo tuono
  Credo – Missa Fratres ego enim accepi
  Ricercar del primo tuono

ORLANDO DI LASSO (1532–1594)
  Tui sunt caeli

GIOVANNI PIERLUIGI DA PALESTRINA
  Sanctus – Missa Fratres ego enim accepi
  Benedictus – Missa Fratres ego enim accepi
  Agnus Dei – Missa Fratres ego enim accepi

TOMÁS LUIS DE VICTORIA (1548–1611)
  Ave Maria

GIOVANNI PIERLUIGI DA PALESTRINA
  Jubilate Deo
Augsburger Domsingknaben
I Fideli
Stefan Steinemann
Recorded 28-30 October 2024
ARS PRODUKTION ARS 38 380 1CD [55:80]