The polyphonic music of the Codex Calixtinus ranks with Aquitanian polyphony as the principal body of 12th-century polyphony in the period just prior to the earliest Notre- Dame polyphony. All 21 pieces have been recorded at least several times. This music is only an appendix to the complete Mass and Office of the feast of St. James that was compiled for the shrine at Compostela. These chants have been recorded much less frequently.
In this magnificent package we have the virtually complete music found in this manuscript, sung in the order that it occurs. Hence the first three discs offer the vigil Mass, the antiphons and responsories of Matins and the other hours, and parts of the two Masses of the day. The fourth disc offers all of the polyphony, concluding with the most popular of the chants, Dum pater familias (Primus ex apostolis).
The chant is sung in the familiar Solesmes style, using Castillian pronunciation. In about one-fourth of the pieces vocal drones are added, and in a few of them there are also instrumental drones. Even the chants that are duplicated in the polyphonic appendix are sung here monophonically. Scarcely one-fourth of these chants has ever been recorded at all. Several strophic pieces are incomplete.
The fine singing and sound engineering are complemented by elegant packaging. Each disc comes in a digipack with texts and translations. They are enclosed in a case with a 96-page booklet of notes. Many color reproductions of the codex are also printed. This package is recommended without reserve. JEROME F. WEBER