Composer: Giovanni Gabrieli
Performer: Leo Van Doeselaar, Liuwe Tamminga
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Passacaille
Catalogue: PAS1082
Release: 2020
Size: 305 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
01. Fuggi pur se sai. Aria da sonar a 8, Ch. 116
02. O che felice giorno. Hodie Christus natus est a 8, Ch. C8
03. Chiar’ Angioletta. Aria da sonar a 8, Ch. 117
04. Dormiva dolcemente a 8, Ch. 115
Sacrae symphoniae, Liber 1 (1597)
05. No. 29, Canzon per sonar septimi toni a 8, Ch. 171
06. No. 33, Sonata pian e forte, Ch. 175
07. No. 31, Canzon per sonar noni toni a 8, Ch. 173
08. No. 30, Canzon per sonar septimi toni a 8, Ch. 172
09. No. 32, Canzon per sonar duodecimi toni a 8, Ch. 174
10. No. 59, Sonata octavi toni a 12, Ch. 184
11. Canzon vigesimasettima ‘fa-sol-la-re’ a 8, Ch. 190
12. Canzon vigesimaottava ‘sol-sol-la-sol-fa-mi’ a 8, Ch. 191
Canzoni et sonate (1615)
13. Canzon XII a 8, Ch. 205
14. Canzon XIV a 10, Ch. 207
15. Canzon VIII a 8, Ch. 202
Giovanni Gabrieli is one of those Venetian musicians who appears in all music history surveys, but who is actually much less well known than he deserves to be. Modern brass ensembles sometimes perform some of his instrumental pieces in odd transpositions, and motets in concertato style end up in anthologies to illustrate the combination of cori spezzati sacred music. Yet, he was one of the major organists of his time, who wrote in virtually all common vocal and instrumental musical genres, introduced new compositional techniques, worked in the most important Venetian sacred institutions after a sojourn in Bavaria, and trained some of the most important German and Italian composers of the early 17th century. Giovanni Gabrielis complete compositional output is preserved in both printed and manuscripts collections, and consists of about 250 compositions between madrigals (mostly in anthologies), motets, instrumental canzonas and sonatas, and organ pieces (Intonazioni, Ricercari, Canzoni, Toccate, Fughe, and Fantasie). The printed collections of instrumental music that became best known were the Canzoni per sonare con ogni sorte di stromenti (Venice, 1608), and the posthumous Canzoni e Sonate (Venice 1615). Why such polyphonic compositions designated per ogni sorte di stromenti (for all sorts of instruments) are performed by two organists in this recording is a consequence of absolute common practice in the 16th and early 17th centuries. On this new recording, the organists have selected eleven double-choir instrumental pieces (for 8, 10 and 12 parts) taken from the three aforementioned prints (of 1597, 1608, and 1615). The selection of eight-to-twelve-part pieces, performed on two of the most beautiful and suitable organs for this repertoirethe two magnificent organs of the San Petronio Basilica in Bologna (unfortunately no comparable organs have survived in Venice) offers an excellent panorama of Giovanni Gabrielis double-choir compositions in the older (canzoni and madrigals) and newer (sonate) forms and styles of the two decades between the late 16th and the early 17th century in Venice.