Gesualdo: Quinto libro dei madrigali
(Click here)
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
CD Details
Composer: Carlo GesualdoConductor: Anthony Rooley
Orchestra: The Consort of Musicke
Performer: Richard Wistreich
Performer: Emma Kirkby
Performer: Evelyn Tubb
Performer: Andrew King
Performer: Joseph Cornwell
Edition: Music CD
Format: Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 2008-01-08
Music Label: L'oiseau-Lyre
Soundtracks:
- 1. Gioite voi col canto
- 2. S'io non miro non moro
- 3. Itene, O miei sospiri
- 4. Dolcissima mia vita
- 5. O dolorosa gioia
- 6. Qual fora, donna
- 7. Felicissimo sonno
- 8. Se vi duol il mio duolo
- 9. Occhi del mio cor vita
- 10. Languisce al fin
- 11. Merc? grido piangendo
- 12. O voi, troppo felici
- 13. Correte, amati, a prova
- 14. Asciugate i begli occhi
- 15. Tu m'uccidi, o crudele
- 16. Deh, coprite il bel seno
- 17. Poich? l'avida sete (Prima parte)
- 18. Ma tu, cagion (Seconda parte)
- 19. O tenebroso giorno
- 20. Se tu fuggi, io non resto
- 21. T'amo, mia vita!
Music reviews of Gesualdo: Quinto libro dei madrigali
Music Review: Grab This Performance Treasure Quickly!
Rating: 5 Stars
Recorded in 1983, this precociously insightful performance of Carlo Gesualdo's Fifth Book of Madrigals in Five Parts was unavailable for a long time, so long that I lost track of it. This morning I came upon my original 1983 CD on a dusty shelf. I couldn't remember it in detail but I knew it would be worth re-hearing because it featured the youthful Emma Kirkby, the finest madrigalist soprano of her generation. I presume the sound quality of the remastered CD will be equal to the original, which was at the acme of British recording technology at the time.
Gesualdo's Fifth and Sixth books of madrigals were both published in 1611, though the composer claimed that he'd written them fifteen years earlier. In either case, Gesualdo ranks with Monteverdi as the founder of the "secunda prattica" of music, in which the otherwordly mathematical precision of Renaissance polyphony was abandoned for a style of music that was more emotional and dramatic, more attentive to poetic texts and word-painting, more florid, and audience-conscious. All 21 madrigals in the Fifth Book are highly chromatic, only incidentally polyphonic, written for five voices with no instrumental accompaniment. Seven singers participated in this recording, conducted by Anthony Rooley, but they never sing all together; each madrigal is sung one-on-a-part. All 21 Italian texts are of the tormented passion variety, but the love-longing of the words is so expressively rendered in the singing that translations are almost redundant.
Musicians around Europe today, especially in Italy, have worked hard to gather the historical performance knowledge and to learn the vocal technique to sing these bizarre wonders convincingly, so it's all the more amazing that Rooley's Consort of Musicke nailed them on the first try. No ensemble has ever yet improved on this performance.
General CDs
Music Genres
Bestsellers in General CDs
Puccini - La Boheme (The Metropolitan Opera HD Live Series)Release date: 2008-09-16; DVD
Best price: $13.67
Price in other shops:
Songs of Joy & Peace Deluxe VersionRelease date: 2008-10-14; Music CD
Best price: $13.50
Price in other shops:
Stephen Sondheim - The Story So Far..Release date: 2008-09-30; Music CD
Best price: $34.13
Price in other shops:
Chant: Music For The SoulRelease date: 2008-07-01; Music CD
Best price: $9.66
Price in other shops:
Andrea Bocelli - The Best of Andrea Bocelli: VivereBOCELLI,ANDREA; Release date: 2007-10-30; Music CD
Best price: $6.98
Price in other shops:
Adams: Doctor AtomicRelease date: 2008-09-30; DVD
Best price: $29.88
Price in other shops:
Baby Einstein - Baby Mozart - Music Festivalby Disney
BABY EINSTEIN; Release date: 2002-03-12; Published: 2004; DVD
Best price: $8.88
Price in other shops:
Andre Rieu: Live in ViennaRelease date: 2008-09-30; DVD
Best price: $12.38
Price in other shops:
Vivaldi: The Four SeasonsRelease date: 2008-09-02; Music CD
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops:
Songs of Joy & PeaceRelease date: 2008-10-14; Music CD
Best price: $9.98
Price in other shops:
Similar CDs
Dowland - The Collected Works / The Consort of Musicke, RooleyRelease date: 2007-03-13; Music CD
Best price: $60.92
Price in other shops:
Monteverdi - L'Orfeo / Rolfe Johnson, Dawson, von Otter, Argenta, M. Nichols, Tomlinson, Chance, Baird; GardinerRelease date: 1990-10-25; Music CD
Best price: $23.97
Price in other shops:
C.P.E. Bach: Symphonies 1-4/ Cello Concerto in A with Andrew ManzeRelease date: 2006-10-10; Music CD
Best price: $12.59
Price in other shops:
Arensky: Piano Trios Nos. 1 & 2Release date: 2004-04-27; Music CD
Best price: $8.02
Price in other shops:
Carlo Gesualdo, The Hilliard Ensemble - Gesualdo: TenebraeRelease date: 2000-04-18; Music CD
Best price: $25.30
Price in other shops:
Perotin / The Hilliard EnsembleRelease date: 2000-04-18; Music CD
Best price: $10.99
Price in other shops:
Gesualdo: Quarto libro de MadrigaliRelease date: 2006-01-24; Music CD
Best price: $14.86
Price in other shops:
Carlo Gesualdo: Madrigali Libri I-IIIRelease date: 2005-09-20; Music CD
Best price: $22.72
Price in other shops:
Victoria: Masses Ave Maris Stella & O Quam Gloriosum / HillRelease date: 1993-02-16; Music CD
Best price: $13.95
Price in other shops:
Gesualdo: Complete Sacred Music for Five VoicesRelease date: 1996-01-04; Music CD
Best price: $4.97
Price in other shops: