Glossa Gesualdo: Responsoria et alia ad Officium Hebdomadae Sanctae spectantia

The 'Responsoria' by Carlo Gesualdo, published in 1611, represent a remarkable emotional outpouring in sacred repertory from a composer who was living out his final years amidst melancholy thoughts and an increasingly precarious state of health. It was also significant that these pieces for Holy Week should appear in the same year as the complex Sixth Book of Madrigals: an association which La Compagnia del Madrigale are keen to emphasise in this striking new recording for Glossa. Having already wowed the critics with the madrigals, La Compagnia, which includes singers of the calibre and experience of Giuseppe Maletto, Daniele Carnovich and Rossana Bertini, turns its attention to subject matter covering torment, suffering, blood and death. Over 3 CDs Gesualdo s creative musical response to the Passion of Christ is interspersed with spiritual madrigals from some of his best-known contemporaries: Luzzaschi, Marenzio, de Macque and Vinci, whose religious texts further underline the madrigalesque nature of the Responsoria. Also included are two comparative rarities from Gesualdo s sacred output, 'In te Domine speravi' and 'Ne reminiscaris, Domine'. Review 'The private life of the Italian Renaissance s most avant-garde composer has tended to overshadow his music. The murder of his first wife, Maria d Avalos, and her lover in 1590 has defined our view of Gesualdo: his later life was spent in depressive seclusion, perhaps wracked by guilt. Two years before his death in 1613, he published his Tenebrae Offices for Holy Week a set each for Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday comprising three sets of three 'nocturns' proclaiming his authorship. (This is in stark contrast to his Books of Madrigals, which remained anonymous composition of secular works unthinkable for a nobleman of the period, despite strong hints to their authorship in his dedications.) This intense, boldly chromatic music of lamentation is rarely heard Eastertide material, especially programmed as comprehensively as here by the six elite singers sopranos Rossana Bertini and Francesca Cassinari, alto Elena Carzaniga, tenors Giuseppe Maletto and Raffaele Giordani, bass Daniele Carnovich comprising La compagnia del Madrigale. This is devotional music of mesmerising beauty, the state-of-the-art performances interspersed with spiritual madrigals by Luzzaschi, Marenzio and Vinci.' --Hugh Canning, The Sunday Times 27 April 2014 ***** Performance / **** Recording 'This new recording by La Compagnia del Madrigale surpasses all others. The singers not only reveal the depths of Gesualdo s emotional understanding, but also his formal, harmonic and textural control, as well as his ability to create music with tremendous performance potential. They negotiate the madrigal-style word-painting with deftness and panache ... a superb recital.' --Anthony Pryer, BBC Music Magazine July 2014 MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL RECORDING OF THE MONTH 'The adopting of one voice per part allows for a personal colouring of the individual parts, a maximum transparency and as a result optimum clarity of the text' --Johan van Veen Music Web International, 20th March 2015