Henri Hardouin - Complete Four-Part a cappella Masses Vol. 1

Technically the oeuvre of Henri Hardouin (1727-1808) falls outside the baroque period but the antiquated style he practiced has no place within the classical idiom. Unaccompanied masses he wrote were rare for baroque as well - however stile antico was a known phenomenon and had its practitioners and audience, mostly in the provincial chruch. And Rheims Cathedral where Hardouin worked, despite its symbolic importance for the French crown was such a provincial place.
Of course the unaccompanied choral music in stile antico  wasn't identical with the Renaissance polyphony that was its ideal - rather it was a combnation of polyphonic and homophonic elements taken from the baroque idiom. This is also the case with Hardouin: "like most stile antico composers, he abandons strict countepoint once all the voices have entered and moves toward a more homophonic style"(booklet). The overall effect of this music which may have appeared anachronistic in its time is surprisingly modern and rather reminds one of modern composers' experiments with Renaissance idioms.

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