Emilio Magni

Emilio de’ Cavalieri (1550-1602) might be one of the most interesting figures of his time. A diplomat; choreographer; organist and composer; his few surviving compositions are groundbreaking; and place him at the forefront of musical development; especially in terms of his connection to the new stile rappresentativo and early opera. Cavalieri's Lamentations and Responsories are extremely innovative when compared to other settings from the time: the expressive setting of the dark biblical text combines old and new musical styles - beautiful and complex polyphonic sections alternating with highly expressive monodies and duets. Profeti della Quinta has been researching and performing Cavalieri’s Lamentations over the past ten years; and are extremely happy to finally share this recording of it.

Although Kairos’s rate of production has decreased in the past few years, the Viennese label still regularly releases discs of music by contemporary Austrian composers. This CD of two recent orchestral works by Friedrich Cerha, celebrating the composer’s 90th birthday, is a welcome addition to Kairos’s four previous albums of his music. While Cerha’s recent chamber music adheres to classical forms, his orchestral music from the same period eschews them, revisiting instead the principles laid out in his sound-mass works from the late 1950s such as Spiegel.