Navegate Oxford

Carlo Gesualdo, Prince of Venosa, murderer in 1590 of his guilty wife and her lover, later took a wife from the d’Este family, rulers of Ferrara, whose musical interests coincided with his own. He wrote a quantity of sacred and secular vocal music and a relatively small number of instrumental pieces. In style his music is unusual in its sudden changes of tonality, its harmony and its intensity of feeling, qualities that have found particular favour among some modern theorists.

The Oxford Camerata with their beautifully blended timbre have their own way with Tallis. Lines are firm, the singing has serenity but also a firm pulse. In the Mass (and particularly in the Sanctus) the expressive strength is quite strongly communicated, while the Benedictus moves on spontaneously at the close. The motets respond particularly well to Jeremy Summerly’s degree of intensity. The opening Loquebantur variis linguis has much passionate feeling, and this (together with the Audivi vocem and, especially, the lovely Sancte Deus) shows this choir of a dozen singers at their most eloquent. The recording, made in the Chapel of Wellington College, is very fine indeed.