Lost choral masterpiece finally finds a home… in the pop charts

By Rob Sharp

Alessandro Striggio’s 1566 mass, performed by 40 choristers,
sees voices, strings and brass meld into a jaw-dropping
harmony.

The mass was first performed in the 16th century, touring
Europe, before being lost in the mists of time.

Several years ago, the work, Missa sopra Ecco sì beato giorno,
was rediscovered in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, where it
had been miscatalogued. In 2007, it was given its first modern
performance at London’s BBC Proms. Now, a new recording of the work
has made its debut on the pop charts at number 68, beating the
likes of Bon Jovi, George Harrison and Eminem. It is extremely rare
for core classical music releases to appear in the British pop
charts. The recording is number two in the classical listings and
there are further plans for a live touring performance to coincide
with the London 2012 Olympics.

“I think people are interested, for starters, because of freak
aspect of it,” said Robert Hollingworth, 44, conductor and founder
of vocal group I Fagiolini, which recorded the work.

“We will see how it fares after several weeks. You get more from
it the more times you listen. The real question is: how many of the
voices can you actually hear? It’s been so carefully recorded by
the engineers that I think you can really pick up on how many
people sing in the recording.”