Grandi: O intemerata

"Philippe Jaroussky is one of the best countertenors around. His voice is mellow, evenly toned, wide-ranging and largely free from intrusive mannerism and vocal strain”

BBC Music Magazine, February 2007

Unsurprisingly, it is in the music of the Baroque era – the heyday of the castrato – that French countertenor Philippe Jaroussky has captured the attention of music-lovers lovers around the world. The ethereal, but sensuous beauty of his voice, his virtuosity and his sense of style have brought him critical praise, a number of major awards – including, in 2008, Germany’s prestigious Echo-Klassik prize for Male Singer of the Year,

Here Philippe Jaroussky, offers selection of motets dedicated to the Virgin Mary, composed in the 17th century by Italian composers. Although the majority of these composers were very famous at their time, their works are today quite unknown, and very rarely, if never, recorded. The central piece is Giovanni Felice SANCES’ “Stabat Mater dolorosa”: the longest (10-11’), considered a masterpiece of the times, and a thoroughly poignant work.

It is now 21 years ago since Henri Ledroit died. He studied with Alfred Deller and worked extensively with Nikolaus Harnoncourt, René Clemencic and René Jacobs, but died of AIDS in 1988. Ledroit was one of the first artists to have faith in the grand enterprise that Ricercar launched in 1980.

This recording, complete with the 2009 catalogue, is devoted to cantatas and airs de cour particualrly associated with Ledroit.

The celebration of the Nativity has always been a source of inspiration for composers. The different elements of the evangelical narrative evoke numerous images: tender feelings before the Baby Jesus; the gentleness of his mother, the Virgin Mary; the procession of the three Wise Men; the angelic choirs in Heaven; and these shepherds gathered in the manger.

All that appears in the musical repertoire linked to this holiday, as well as the presence of colourful instrumentations and themes connected to folk traditions. This set, released by Ricercar, brings together all these elements, drawn from the repertoires of the Renaissance and Baroque eras.

Paul McCreesh and the Gabrieli Consort and Players have become famous for their recreations of the great liturgical set pieces of the Venetian 16th and early 17th centuries. These recordings made by Deutsche Grammophon in the 1990s are state of the art and were critically acclaimed. In this 5Cd set we are taken back to St Mark’s Basilica, the most important church in the city-state, and the Confraternity of San Rocco, for which Giovanni Gabrieli and his colleague the falsetto Bartolemeo Barbarino composed remarkable collection of instrumental and vocal music. This recording includes wide range of Gabrieli’s work, from intimate motets, to the reconstructed glory of the 33 part Magnificat On CDs 1 and 2 we are in St Mark’s at Easter time in 1600. The smell of incense hangs in the chill air of the basilica and the huge building resonates with sound of voices – the service has begun. The central work is the Missa Congratulamini mihi by Lassus. As was customary, the Credo has been omitted, and substituted with non-liturgical vocal works by composers such as Giovanni and Alessandro Gabrieli, Bendinelli, and Merulo. Organ toccatas, Sacrae symphonea and other vocal works are placed between the movements of the Mass. The Venetian Vespers on CDs 3 and 4 again draws on music from a variety of composers as services such as the vespers at this time were often made up of movements of Mass and Vespers settings by different composers. The composer of the most famous setting of the Vespers, Claudio Monteverdi features here with his Messa et salmi, alongside Banchieri, Cavalli, and Giovanni Gabrieli.

Gramophone reviewing Music for San Rocco said ‘It is hard to imagine this fine recording of Gabrieli’s music being superseded for some time to come. For the sheer splendour of the music, and the excellence of the performances, this recording is a must, a real five-star achievement’. January 1997

Venetian Vespers Gramophone review ‘Among the performers there is a feeling of common enterprise that is hard to describe, but which sets this record apart from so many others where the overall impression is of a sequence of unrelated pieces given a disjointed series of separate performances…. There is some carefully thought out and gracefully shaped instrumental playing…. In short this is an heroic achievement of the highest possible order’. June 1993

Venetian Easter Mass, Gramophone review. ‘The impact is tremendous in some items…as usual, the singing and playing are of a high order..’ July 1997