Dolcissima Mia Vita: Music Of 16th Century / Var - Dolcissima Mia Vita: Music of 16th Century / - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra - Symphony 1 / Sirens [COMPACT DISCS] date 11/21/1995

Philippe Herreweghe records his third disc devoted to a controversial figure in the world of music and art in general Carlo Gesualdo, who had his wife murdered and is suspected of having his son smothered. This time Collegium Vocale Gent performs his fifth book of madrigals (1611), published two years before his death. A collection that even today contributes to the eternal debate to what extent does art become impregnated with reality, and how can it be appreciated when it emanates from a mind living so close to horror? Here the bold dissonances and sometimes tortured expressiveness that can be perceived in his harmonic language offer food for thought. Can we speak of redemption through art for a murderous composer in the twilight of his life?

With Vieni, dolce Imeneo, La Compagnia del Madrigale make another important halt on their compelling journey across the territory of Italian secular song with a disc devoted to one of the most significant, yet these days somewhat bypassed, composers Cipriano de Rore. de Rore was a Fleming who enjoyed great success notably in the Italian courts of Ferrara and Parma - but with a prestige which extended up and across Europe. He composed in many genres, but it is the secular madrigal - recorded here - where his skill was most valued, for example in creating extended and expressive melodic lines coupled with innovatory pre-echoes of the seconda pratica so triumphantly expressed - albeit amidst great criticism - by Claudio Monteverdi. Recordings - all also on Glossa - of madrigals by Marenzio, Gesualdo and Monteverdi have already demonstrated musical pleasures such as an uncommon vocal blend and delicacy, and a meticulous dynamic control exhibited by the richly-experienced members of La Compagnia del Madrigale, and those delights are to be experienced with these 19 madrigals by Cipriano de Rore, composed late in his career. With texts by Petrarch, Ariosto and assorted court poets for these madrigals, essay-writer Marco Bizzarini highlights one of the principal characteristic features of de Rore's mastery when he points to the disc's title track, Vieni, dolce Imeneo the ideal union between poetry and music.