How interesting to compare the same text set by two great composers from different countries and centuries! When listening to Palestrina’s version you feel the pageantry of a Papal Mass in some grand Roman basilica – St. Peter’s or St. John Lateran, where Palestrina worked. I would imagine his piece was actually composed for a specific service in which the Pope was present.

Almost four centuries later, the French composer Maurice Duruflé composed a version which is still rousing, but much less extravagant, and brief! (It lasts only 53 seconds.) This motet is built from a chant phrase of only six notes, which are heard at the beginning of each voice part. The Gregorian chant and Duruflé’s counterpoint mix so perfectly that one cannot tell where one ends and the other begins.

– Dennis Keene

PALESTRINA Tu es Petrus
from the Delos recording Prince of Music ℗ 1999 Delos

DURUFLÉ Tu es Petrus
from the Delos recording Hear My Prayer ℗ 2004 Delos

Voices of Ascension
Dennis Keene, Artistic Director

The singers in this performance are represented by the American Guild of Musical Artists, AFL-CIO.