Notes and Editorial Reviews
"...deeply satisfying – more intimate and, in many ways, more spiritual. Modern copies of original instruments are employed, tuned in pre-equal-tone manner, but I doubt if many congregations in the seventeenth century heard performances as good as these: full marks all round..." -
MusicWeb International
The Devine Vespers, a service of evening prayer in the Roman-Catholic Church, has provided both occasion and inspiration for some of the most sumptuous music ever composed. But not many churches in the seventeenth century could afford the lavish instrumental and vocal resources needed to play the likes of Monteverdi’s grandiose Vespro della Beata Vergine. For many of the smaller and more provincial churches,
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an acceptable compromise at evening service was the playing of smaller-scale sacred chamber music. This led in the seventeenth century to a tremendous outpouring of sacred music for small groups of singers and instrumentalists, as performed by The Gonzaga Band on this disc.
During Vespers, it became commonplace to alternate the obligatory psalms with a number of extra-liturgical instrumental pieces. This recording follows the same structure. The psalms, by Banchieri, Finetti, Petrobelli, and Monferrato, are complemented and framed by a variety of joyous instrumental works by Tarditi, Cima, Piccinini, Frescobaldi, Crotti, Sances, and Cazzati.
The Gonzaga Band was formed by the cornettist Jamie Savan in 1997 to explore historical approaches to the performance of vocal and instrumental music of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Its line-up is project led: the very best vocalists and period instrumentalists are ‘hand picked’ according to the specialist requirements of each programme. On this recording, The Gonzaga Band is joined by the mezzo-soprano Clare Wilkinson and cornettist Gawain Glenton.
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Works on This Recording
1.
Dixit Dominus by Adriano Banchieri
Performer:
Clare Wilkinson (Mezzo Soprano)
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Gonzaga Band
Period: Baroque
Written: Italy
2.
Regina caeli laetare by Maurizio Cazzati
Performer:
Clare Wilkinson (Mezzo Soprano)
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Gonzaga Band
Period: Baroque
Written: 17th Century; italy
3.
Sonata for Cornet and Viola da gamba by Giovanni Paolo Cima
Performer:
Clare Wilkinson (Mezzo Soprano),
Robert Glenton (Cornett)
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Gonzaga Band
Period: Baroque
Written: Milan, Italy
4.
Sonata sopra Sancta Maria by Archangelo Crotti
Performer:
Clare Wilkinson (Mezzo Soprano)
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Gonzaga Band
Period: Baroque
Written: by 1608; Italy
5.
Psalm II: Laudate pueri by Giacomo Finetti
Performer:
Clare Wilkinson (Mezzo Soprano)
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Gonzaga Band
6.
Capriccio sopra un soggetto by Girolamo Frescobaldi
Performer:
Clare Wilkinson (Mezzo Soprano)
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Gonzaga Band
Period: Baroque
Written: by 1608; Italy
7.
Canzon terza by Girolamo Frescobaldi
Performer:
Clare Wilkinson (Mezzo Soprano)
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Gonzaga Band
Period: Baroque
8.
Psalm V: Lauda Jerusalem by Natale Monferrato
Performer:
Clare Wilkinson (Mezzo Soprano)
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Gonzaga Band
9.
Psalm III: Laetatus sum by Francesco Petrobelli
Performer:
Clare Wilkinson (Mezzo Soprano)
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Gonzaga Band
10.
Toccata 4, for lute (from Intavolatura di Liuto) by Alessandro Piccinini
Performer:
Clare Wilkinson (Mezzo Soprano)
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Gonzaga Band
Period: Baroque
11.
Ave maris stella, motet by Giovanni Felice Sances
Performer:
Clare Wilkinson (Mezzo Soprano)
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Gonzaga Band
Period: Baroque
12.
Domine ad adjuvandum me by Orazio Tarditi
Performer:
Clare Wilkinson (Mezzo Soprano)
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Gonzaga Band
Period: Baroque
Written: Italy
13.
Psalm IV: Nisi Dominus by Orazio Tarditi
Performer:
Clare Wilkinson (Mezzo Soprano)
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Gonzaga Band
Sound Samples
Nuovi pensieri ecclesiastici, Book 3, Op. 35: Psalm 109, "Dixit Dominus"
Intavolatura di Liuto, et di Chitarrone, Book 1: Toccata No. 4
Capriccio sopra un soggetto
Psalm 5, "Lauda Jerusalem"
Sonata sopra, "Sancta Maria"
Motetti a 1, 2, 3 and 4 voci: Ave maris stella
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