# Manuel Cardoso



## datadervish (May 6, 2017)

There's not a great deal of music recorded that was written by this Portuguese composer of the late renaissance, but I'm sure there are some fans of his on the forum. 

At the moment, I'm inclined to think that Cardoso's six-part Requiem as performed by The Tallis Scholars is one of my top three classical works. It takes the blueprint laid down by Victoria in his Officium Defunctorum with its long melodic lines and almost takes it up another level. Of course, its use of augmented intervals also gives the work a startlingly modern sound in places, reminding you that we are at the very end of the renaissance period. I'm still quite new to classical music, but I've discovered a deep love of renaissance music in the last couple of years, and in a way Cardoso's six-part Requiem seems like the final, glorious swan song that brings the era to a close. I know I'm pushing it there, but that's how I like to think of it at the moment, at least. 

The other album I have of Cardoso's music is by the Portuguese early music group Cupertinos. It contains another Requiem of Cardoso's, this time in four parts. It's obviously not quite as good as its longer counterpart, but this album in general is astonishing. In particular, I would recommend the eight motets that Cupertinos perform beautifully and with a somewhat different sound to British early music groups. 

I know there's an acclaimed record of Cardoso's music by Philippe Herreweghe, while The Sixteen perform another of his masses on their Renaissance Portugal album, but other than those two I don't know of much else. Does anyone have any recommendations, and are there any other fans of his music?


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