Composer: Carlo Gesualdo
Performer: Les Arts Florissants
Conductor: Paul Agnew
Number of Discs: 2
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Harmonia Mundi
Catalogue: HAF890530910
Release: 2021
Size: 647 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
CD 01
Voi volete ch’io mora
01. I. Voi volete ch’io mora
02. II. Moro, o non moro?
03. Ahi, disperata vita
04. Languisco, e moro, ahi, cruda!
05. Del bel de’ bei vostri occhi
06. Ahi, dispietata e cruda
07. Dolce spirto d’amore
Sospirava il mio core
08. I. Sospirava il mio core
09. II. O mal nati messaggi e mal intesi
10. Veggio sì dal mio sole
11. Non t’amo, o voce ingrata
Meraviglia d’Amore
12. I. Meraviglia d’amore
13. II. Ed ardo e vivo, dolc’aura gradita
14. Crudelissima doglia
15. Se piange ohimè la donna del mio core
16. Ancidetemi pur, grievi martiri
17. Se vi miro pietosa
18. Deh, se già fu crudele al mio martire
19. Dolcissimo sospiro
20. Donna, se m’ancidete
CD 02
01. Luci serene, e chiare
02. Tal’hor sano desio
Io tacerò, ma nel silentio mio
03. I. Io tacerò, ma nel silentio mio
04. II. In van dunque, o crudele
05. Che fai meco, mio cor misero e solo
06. Questa crudele, e pia
Hor ch’in gioia credea viver contento
07. I. Hor ch’in gioia credea viver contento
08. II. O sempre crudo Amore
Cor mio, deh, non piangete
09. I. Cor mio, deh, non piangete
10. II. Dunque non m’offendete
11. Sparge la morte al mio signor nel viso
Moro, e mentre sospiro
12. I. Moro, e mentre sospiro
13. II. Quando di lui la sospirata vita
14. Mentre gira costei
15. A voi, mentre il mio core
Ecco, moriro dunque
16. I. Ecco, morirò dunque
17. II. Ahi! già mi discoloro
18. Arde ‘l mio cor, ed è sì dolce il foco
19. Se chiudete nel core
Il sol, qual hor più splende
20. I. Il sol, qual hor più splende
21. II. Volgi mia luce, volgi entro ‘l mio seno
Following the acclaim which met their 2-CD set devoted to the first two books of Gesualdo’s madrigals (2020 Gramophone Award), Paul Agnew and Les Arts Florissants now focus on the composer’s Ferrara period. Books III and IV mark a turning point in Gesualdo’s output. The murderous prince’s inner demons seem to be reflected in the heightened expressiveness of these madrigals, whose reliance on chromaticism and dissonance was so far ahead of it’s time that it’s like would not be heard again until centuries later.
The facts of Carlo Gesualdo’s life are perhaps as well known as his music: he caught his wife and her lover in the act, brutally murdered them both, fled her enraged family, and entered a life of seclusion where he pursued increasingly arcane and extreme musical experiments. A source of controversy with the present release may be that Les Arts Florissants director Paul Agnew argues in the booklet that the wildly experimental qualities of the last books of Gesualdo’s madrigals, even found in the Book IV pieces included here, actually shouldn’t be connected to the murder but were rather in the cards at the end of the long Italian madrigal tradition. Agnew has a certain amount of evidence on his side; other composers such as Luca Marenzio and the melodiously named Luzzasco Luzzaschi pursued the same kinds of innovations as Gesualdo did. Whatever one’s position, these are unusually strong Gesualdo performances. What Agnew and his singers do that often eludes others is to pay attention to the texts, avoiding the agonized mannerisms common in the repertory and deploying just a hint of inflection toward speech instead of sung pitch where it’s appropriate. The range of dynamics and phrasing is large — listen to the deliciously quiet “Dolcissimo sospiro” — and the listener’s interest never flags over the substantial program. Les Arts Florissants have performed Gesualdo frequently, and they are well attuned to the tremendous tension in his music, the feeling of having no idea where the music will go next, no matter where that tension may actually have been coming from. If your Gesualdo collection is in need of a refresh from the classic recordings of Stravinsky’s day, this is a fine choice; it is also a good place to start with Gesualdo for anybody.