Luigi Guatri

The only available complete recording, newly made by a stylish Italian early-music ensemble, of a landmark collection of Baroque chamber music.

The latest album from Christina Pluhar and her instrumental ensemble L’Arpeggiata sheds new light on the chamber cantatas of 17th century Italian composer, Luigi Rossi. He wrote more than 300 of these works and Christina Pluhar’s new double album includes an impressive number of 21 world premiere recordings, which are the fruit of Christina Pluhar’s research among music manuscripts held in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France and the Vatican Library.

Bitter-elegant touch, communicative fluent melodies on perfect harmonization, and a pinch of Soul Music - the next Piano Trio Masterpiece by Turinese pianist Luigi Martinale, accompanied by international top bassist Reuben Rogers and his old friend Paolo Franciscone on drums.

Superb individual players yet perfectly integrated tonally. They are also thoroughly at home in Cherubini's sound-world. In short these modern-instrument performances could hardly be bettered.

The Oratorio per la Settimana Santa, which is among the very first compositions to be labelled “oratorio” in the sources, was composed in Rome in the 1640s. It was probably performed in the Oratorio di San Girolamo della Carità, where Filippo Neri held his esercizi spirituali. It appears in a manuscript source from the Barberini collection of the Vatican Library which doesn’t specify its composer— although this is usually identified as Luigi Rossi — but names Giulio Cesare Raggioli as the author of the text. Both Raggioli and Rossi worked for members of the Barberini family, who were close relations of pope Urban VIII (Maffeo Barberini), and themselves powerful patrons of music and the arts. an opera.

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.