Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

Carlo Gesualdo (1561-1613), Prince of Venosa in Italy, was a talented amateur composer of madrigals until his life was turned upside down when he discovered that his wife had been unfaithful to him. As was the custom back then the prince was allowed to kill the guilty couple without being himself guilty of murder. Obviously his life was never the same again and he seems to have turned to composing sacred music as a form of penance. Not, we hasten to add, that listening to his work is a penance for us. His compositions were unusual in their original context and some contemporary scholars have seen Gesualdo as a precursor to 20th century trends such as serialism. There is not, though, a great deal to work on as he was never a prolific composer and some of what he wrote has been lost. This collection is a case in point. The second book of 'Sacrae Cantiones' was a compilation of motets for six or seven voices. Back then music was not collected into one complete score but written in separate books for each part and at some point in the 400 years since Gesualdo's death in 1613 the bassus and sextus books were lost. After years of meticulous research (explained in more detail in the informative CD booklet) James Wood has made a plausible reconstruction of the full score and now, at last, we can hear and appreciate it. The Vocalconsort Berlin was formed in 2003 and has quickly become a well respected ensemble. The singing on this disc is unaccompanied and uniformly excellent and those who have little interest in Renaissance polyphony but who appreciate top quality singing will enjoy this album. It is a typical Harmonia Mundi release being somewhat out of the mainstream but brought to us with a full awareness of its artistic worth, recorded and presented to the highest standards, and well worth investigating.

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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