Gesualdo - Sacrae Cantiones, Liber Secundus
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Label: Harmonia Mundi
Cat No: HMC902123
Format: CD
Number of Discs: 1
Genre: Vocal/Choral
Release Date: 11th February 2013
Contents
Artists
VocalConsort BerlinConductor
James WoodWorks
Sacrae Cantiones, Liber Secundus, a6 e a7 (reconstructed by James Wood)Artists
VocalConsort BerlinConductor
James WoodAbout
Thanks to his unrelenting and methodical research, James Wood has managed to reconstruct the score for the first time as it might have been sung in 1603. This fascinating investigation took three years to complete - here is the result.
There is an extensive essay in the booklet by James Woods on his labours.
"I had little idea at the outset just how difficult the task of reconstruction would be, and indeed there were many moments when I was tempted to concede defeat. However, my determination was fuelled on the one hand by the excitement of bringing these masterful and visionary pieces back to life after four hundred years of oblivion, and on the other by the stimulation which came from discovering so many secrets within a compositional technique of such phenomenal strength and sophistication, and from which I, as a composer even four centuries later, could learn so much. I would like to thank Andrew Parrott for his very great help, advice and constant encouragement throughout my work on this reconstruction." - James Wood, March 2012
Sound/Video
Paused
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1Opening Canticle - Miserere
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2Virgo benedicta
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3O beata Mater
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4Verda mea
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5Sana me Dominus
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6Discedite a me omnes
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7Ardens est cor meum
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8Gaudeamus omnes
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9Assumpta est Maria
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10Closing Canticle - Benedictus
Europadisc Review
The Glossa label has already proved that Gesualdo's music can stand on its own merits, with benchmark recordings of the fourth and fifth books of his madrigals by the excellent Italian ensemble La Venexiana. To these is now added the Sixth Book, performed by the aptly named La Compangie del Madrigali, which brings together singers from La Venexiana and some of their equally prestigious colleagues from Concerto Italiano. The results are utterly spellbinding. The Sixth Book (1611), with its texts often dwelling on the themes of mortality and death, stand at the summit of Gesualdo's art. Here it enjoys performances that are as close to definitive as one could hope. Every nuance is lovingly shaped, the often startling harmonic changes and mood swings relished and exploited to maximum effect, dynamics and phrasing exquisitely moulded. The famous Moro, lasso, al mio duolo is remarkably vivid, but so too are all the other works. Even the lighter hearted Quando ridente e ballo which ends the collection makes its mark.
In the same week, another important Gesualdo release comes from Harmonia Mundi. Conductor and composer James Wood is better known to audiences of contemporary music, but he has spent nearly three years reconstructing the missing bassus and sextus parts to the second book of the Sacrae Cantiones (1603). Although not the first such attempt, this is certainly the most thorough and convincing, meaning that this long 'lost' work, which constitutes fully one third of Gesualdo's sacred output, can at last be heard by modern audiences. In his notes, Wood describes how completing the missing parts meant reconstructing the set of 'rules' by which Gesualdo composed, like filling in the missing words of a crossword. A musical sudoku might be another analogy, yet the results are far from academic. Framed at either end by the Miserere and Benedictus from Gesualdo's Responsaries for Holy Week, the individual motets are grouped here according to subject: Prayers for Salvation, Despair and Weeping, Peace and Hope and Praise and Thanks. The dry recording suggests perhaps the intimacy of a private chapel, and the results are deeply fascinating.
Both discs come with full notes, texts and translations; for the Sacrae Cantiones, there are additional online resources outlining in more detail the highly involved process of reconstruction. Either one of these remarkable releases is likely to provide many hours of engrossing listening; together, they make an irresistible package.
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