Carlo GESUALDO DA VENOSA (1566-1613)
Madrigals Book 3 (1595)
1. Voi volete ch’io mora (part 1) [1:34]
2. Moro o non moro (part 2) [2:59]
3. Ahi, disperata vita [2:15]
4. Languisco e moro [4:54]
5. Del bel de’ bei vostri occhi [2:36]
6. Ahi, dispietata e cruda [3:35]
7. Dolce spirto d’amore [3:31]
8. Sospirava il mio core (part 1) [2:52]
9. O mal nati messaggi (part 2) [3:11]
10. Veggio, sì, dal mio sole [2:39]
11. Non t’amo, o voce ingrata [2:48]
12. Meraviglia d’amore (part 1) [1:23]
13. Ed ardo e vivo (part 2) [1:56]
14. Crudelissima doglia [3:32]
15. Se piange, ohimè [3:56]
16. Ancidetemi pur, grievi martiri [3:53]
17. Se vi miro pietosa [2:41]
18. Deh, se già fu crudele [2:41]
19. Dolcissimo sospiro [3:52]
20. Donna se m’ancidete (a sei voci) [3:01]
21. Come vivi cor mio (canzonetta) [4:38]
22. All’ombra degli allori (canzonetta) [4:06]
Delitiæ Musicæ (Alessandro Carmignani; Paolo Costa; Fabio Fùrnari; Raffaele
Giordani; Marco Scavazza; Walter Testolin)/Marco Longhini
rec. 27 July – 1 August, 2008, Chiesa di San Pietro in Vincoli, Azzogo, Verona,
Italy
NAXOS 8.572136 [68:37]
This beautifully presented disc is the third in a sequence of six covering
Gesualdo’s entire output of madrigals and secular works. The first two issues
attracted an enthusiastic critical reception; this third is of particular
interest in that it marks the turning point in Gesualdo’s musical idiom from
a more conventional style to that for which he is most celebrated: arresting
dissonances, a marked intensity, concision and directness of address to create
pathos and drama. In other words, as one reviewer elsewhere aptly puts it,
“seriously weird”.
Published in 1595, these madrigals are also important and unusual in that
they constitute perhaps the first example of output by an artist who, being
an aristocrat himself, was free from the constraints of patronage and could
exercise his artistic autonomy to ignore the criteria for approval and success.
Not only could he introduce whatever innovations he chose into his musical
language but he could also set texts by whomever he pleased. Indeed, he rejected
verse regularly and humbly submitted to him by Torquato Tasso in favour of
lesser or even anonymous poets. He was thus, as Longhini suggests, possibly
“the first composer in history to have had the luxury of pursuing art for
art’s sake.”
The scandalous and turbulent events of his discovering and murdering his wife
and lover in flagrante delicto are too well known to bear repetition
(but see);
the evidence of Gesualdo’s tortured contrition is all over the music which
is markedly darker and more obsessive than in Book Two. He was legally immune
from prosecution on the grounds that he was both a nobleman and merely a perpetrator
of “crimes of honour”, but threats of revenge and general condemnation dogged
him. The marks made on his mental health and his subsequent descent into chronic
depression are typified in his most famous madrigal “Ancidetemi pur, grieve
martiri” (“Do not kill me, grievous suffering”). Key emotive words and phrases
such as “martire”, “dolore” and “tormento” and “questa misera vita” (“this
wretched life of mine”) are repeatedly emphasised by their stark original
musical treatment. For once, the tired banalities of the language of courtly
love have their roots in real, rather than feigned or formulaic, suffering.
Gesulado had apparently sincerely loved his wife, his cousin whom he had known
since childhood, and was equally sincerely conscience-stricken by the extraordinary
violence of his vengeance upon her and Fabrizio Carafa.
The singing here is of a high order: intonation is impeccable and the blend
of voices agreeably smooth. The counter-tenors are free of squall or hoot
and the bass does not groan. Seven tracks, including the two concluding bonus
items, feature an accompaniment by a “clavicembalo” - a harpsichord to you
and me. Otherwise the emphasis is upon a capella purity. The microphone
placement in this recording is very close to the singers but that, if anything,
reveals how precise and subtly graded their singing is. There is still a wide
spread of sound, allowing you to hear individual lines clearly. The vocal
colouring and shading of dynamics are exquisite: when they sing “gli estremi
miei sospiri”. Their voices really do sigh and die. Notes are held steadily
with minimal vibrato or none at all. Pauses and rubato are employed judiciously
and effectively without obviousness. The sound of the Veronese church location
is warm and full yet the singers’ diction is crystal clear - nothing like
native Italians in such music with undistorted vowels, crisp consonants and
neatly trilled Rs. The freedom and invention of Gesualdo’s chromatic harmonies
and rhythms are sometimes startling. Listening to a whole hour of such unvaryingly
sombre and self-pitying music can be wearing, but that may be addressed by
an appreciation of the vitality and variety of the singing of Delitiæ Musicæ.
A more practical solution to potential overload is to listen to no more than
twenty pieces at a sitting.
There are two bonus tracks: a pair of “canzonette” published in 1618 to complete
the survey of the Gesualdo canon.
The elegant booklet includes a full, informative and scholarly essay by editor,
conductor and producer Marco Longhini, biographies, Italian texts and English
translations. The cover is graced by tastefully selected artwork. This all
serves to continue a very welcome pattern. This series clearly marks a highpoint
in the Naxos Early Music catalogue.
Ralph Moore
This series clearly marks a highpoint in the Naxos Early Music catalogue.
see also review by Mark Sealey