Ferdinando

Together with Johann Simon Mayr, Ferdinando Paër counts as one of the most important opera composers of his day, and he was unable to resist filling his oratorio on Christ’s Passion, Il Santo Sepolcro with expressive extremes. Pain and grief contrast with joy and hope, and scenes including the terrible hours of the crucifixion, frenzy of the crowd, resurrection and Last Judgment are given potently descriptive music. Originally a prelude to Haydn’s Seven Last Words, Mayr’s Invito is a call to hear Paër’s incomparable narrative.

Uncle (Andrea) and nephew (Giovanni) Gabrieli have had a great impact on Italian Renaissance music. Especially their works for cori spezzati (double-choir) - ‘inherited’ from Adrian Willaert – utilizing the two balconies opposite each other at St. Mark’s in Venice, have left an undisputed mark. Both composers, however, were also organists themselves. It must have been a challenge to compose music for two organs along the same cori spezzati lines. This selection of pieces allows the listener to join in the excitement of playing on historic instruments in a vast church.