Recorded in 2005 and first released, I believe, the following
year, this splendid disc of Marian motets reappears newly re-minted.
Rome and Venice were the twin centres of the cult of devotion
in Italy, and the seventeenth century witnessed a considerable
exploration in the diverse forms available to composers of the
time. This included the use of the affetti. Through such
uses one can clearly hear the porous nature of the sacred and
secular which seep one into the other, or - to be more specific
- utilise overlapping musical devices. It is remarkable how,
for example, elements of the Monteverdi operatic template permeate
a number of the Venetian Marian settings.
Alesaandro Grandi was active in Ferrara but made his name principally
in Venice. He was, in fact, Monteverdi’s assistant. The
refined instrumental writing in his Salve Regina, the
real interplay between these and the vocal textures is remarkably
assured and effective. No less impressive is his O quam tu
pulchra es which is lit by highly particular textual illuminations,
heightening of certain words or phrases, and sensitive use of
repeated phrases. Here we can also witness Philippe Jaroussky’s
adept use of the lower part of his voice, in the shading and
colouring of the line. O intemerata is a faster setting,
direct, virtuosically inclined.
Giovanni Legrenzi succeeded Cavalli in Venice and his Ave
Regina coelorum illustrates quite graphically how the operatic
conventions of the time infiltrated Marian writing. This is
a duet, for Jaroussky and the excellent contralto Marie-Nicole
Lemieux, and the fluid registral changes and vocal interplay
are intensely dramatic, though not - it should be noted - florid.
Of Cavalli himself we hear his intensely beautiful O quam
suavis, an aria with glorious melismas and rich orchestral
accompaniment. Its compact power is undeniable and richly realised
in this performance. Rigati’s Regina coeli laetare
sports some Monteverdi-inspired runs and has a role for obbligato
fiddle.
One of the impactful settings is that of Giovanni Felice Sances,
whose Stabat Mater dolorosa, published in 1636, is a
devotional setting of great intensity and plangency. The diminuendi,
sustenance of notes and fined-down tone attest to Jaroussky’s
full involvement and wholehearted response. By contrast we find
that Bassani’s Corda lingua in amore is a very
much more externalised approach, predicated on virtuosity and
levels of panache not heard elsewhere in the recital. Casati’s
Sanctissima Virgo restores introspective intensity with
a passionately integrated concertante setting that fluctuates
between solo and accompaniment, in a truly beautiful way
Frescobaldi is represented by his organ piece, Ave Maria
Stella, published in Rome in 1637. Bassani’s Sonata
prima is a multi-faceted and enviably articulate work for
violin and continuo.
Full texts are provided, and the recording, made in the Eglise
Notre-Dame du Liban, Paris, is wholly sympathetic. Admirers
of Jaroussky and/or the Marian motets he sings with such selfless
eloquence should look on this disc, if not already acquired,
as an important purchase.
Jonathan Woolf
see also review by Johan
van Veen
Track listing
Alessandro GRANDI (?1586-1630)
Salve Regina (Motetti a una, due vocie con sinfonie d'istromenti,
Libro primo, A. Vincenti, Venezia) (1621) [3:53]
O quam tu pulchra es (Cantio sacra. R. Ewerhart, Köln)
(1628) [3:26]
O intemerata (Il secondo libro de motetti a due, tre e quattro
voci, Venezia, A. Vincenti) (1627) [3:09] ¹
Giovanni LEGRENZI (1626-1690)
Ave Regina coelorum (Sentimenti devoti espressi con la musica
di due e tre voci, opera sesta, Libro secondo, G. Sala, Venezia)
(1660) [3:26] ¹
Francesco CAVALLI (1602-1676)
O quam suavis (Mottetti a voce sola da diversi Eccellentissimi
Autori, Libro primo, Venezia Gardano) (1645) [4:36]
Giovanni Antonio RIGATTI (1613-1648)
Regina coeli laetare (Motetti a voce sola, Magni, Venezia) (1643)
[3:04]
Giovanni Paolo CAPRIOLI (?-1627)
Vulnerasti cor meum (Armoniae cantiones una, 2, 3, 4, 5 vocibus
concinendae cum sonorum concentibus pro instrumentis, opus tertium,
1635, G. Rolla, Milano) [2:57]
Girolamo FRESCOBALDI (1583-1643)
Ave Maria Stella (Il Secondo libro di toccate, canzone, versi
d'inni, magnificat, gagliarde, correnti e altre partite, d'intavolatura
di cimbalo e organo di Girolamo Frescobaldi organista in San
Pietro di Roma) (1637) [3:40]
Giovanni Felice SANCES (1600-1679)
Stabat Mater dolorosa (Motetti) (1636) [11:25]
Giovanni Battista BASSANI (1650-1716)
Corda lingua in amore (Metri sacri, resi armonici in motetti
a voce sola con violini, opera ottava) (1690) [10:11]
Sonata prima (instrumental.) (1688) [8:10]
Andrea MATTIOLI (1620-1679)
Ave Regina coelorum (Harmonia sacra, dedota dal concerto di
salmi, motetti, inni e antifone a voce sola. Con violini., A.
Gardano, Venezia) (1765) [2:57]
Girolamo CASATI (c.1590- after 1657)
Sanctissima Virgo (Sacrae cantiones una, duabusque vocibus coninendae,
J. Cassiani, Modena) (1618) [3:16]
Giovanni Paolo COLONNA (1637-1695)
O coeli devota (Motetti sacri a voce sola con due violini, G.
Monti, Bologna) (1681) [7:12]
Philippe Jaroussky (counter-tenor) 
