la Settimana Enigmstica

Luigi Rossi - Oratorio per la Settimana Santa - Les Arts Florissants, William Christie (2016) {Harmonia Mundi HAF 8901297}
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© 1989, 2016 Harmonia Mundi | HAF 8901297
Classical / Baroque / Choral

Rossi's Oratorio per la Settimana Santa is a masterpiece of the period. Its unusual representation of the Crucifixion draws on elements of both the Passion and the Stabat mater traditions. It also includes an almost operatic scene that vividly depicts a descent into Hades. Its moralistic intent was to move the listener through compassion to repentance. This striking recording from William Christie and the ensemble Les Arts Florissants was originally released in 1989.

Lamentations or tenebrae were composed for the Matins services of Thursday, Friday and Saturday in Holy Week but were sung on the preceding evening. Each service consisted of three nocturnes and each nocturne was divided into three lessons. The Lamentations of Jeremiah were always sung during the three lessons of the first nocturne of each service. That makes nine tenebrae in all. Scarlatti however, set to music only six of them, all of which are sung on this new release. Five of the Lamentations are for soprano and the remaining one for tenor.

This CD contains sacred music Ippolito Ghezzi, an Augustinian friar who lived between the seventeenth century and the eighteenth. A fresh, inspired writing and a sober, but not austere style are the mainstays of the composer's approach to the great Biblical episodes: the intention of this music is to reach the listeners' understanding in a direct (and sometimes also dramatic) way, unfailingly guiding them towards a conversion to faith. The Cappella Musicale di San Giacomo Maggiore in. Bologna, which has chosen the safeguard of the sacred-music heritage (particularly the Augustinian one) as its most cherished hallmark, deserves our praise for the rediscovery of such an excellent musician.