Alessandro Scarlatti, Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Allessandrini - Magnificat, Dixit Dominus

Published Monday 9th July 2007
Alessandro Scarlatti, Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Allessandrini - Magnificat, Dixit Dominus
Alessandro Scarlatti, Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Allessandrini - Magnificat, Dixit Dominus

STYLE: Choral
RATING 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9
OUR PRODUCT CODE: 29106-
LABEL: Naive 30350
FORMAT: CD Album
ITEMS: 1

Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

The Italian composer Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725) was deeply attached to the traditional way of writing church music and deliberately shunned the newer, more operatic ways of writing that were becoming fashionable during his lifetime. For Scarlatti, as for Bach, the polyphonic and contrapuntal style was the preferred way of composing or, as we might say, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." What we have on this lovingly complied disc are a "Dixit Dominus", a "Magnificat" and five madrigals, all sung supremely well by Concerto Italiano, directed by Rinaldo Alessandrini. Lovers of vocal music should listen to this collection just to hear how difficult music can be performed. The sacred music is sung, appropriately, acappella and the secular madrigals have only minimal instrumentation allowing us to appreciate just how well the vocalists sing. The choral music here stands comparison with Bach and the madrigals with Monteverdi and any listeners who enjoy these composers will be pleased to make the acquaintance of Alessandro Scarlatti.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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