Search - Andrea Gabrieli, Giovanni Gabrieli, Robert Hollingworth :: Andrea Gabrieli: The Madrigal in Venice

An excellent and exciting recording

Steven Guy | Croydon, South Australia | 10/18/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This wonderful disc contains a range of madrigals from very small scaled works to some of the very largest Andrea Gabrieli ever wrote (only 'Ecce Vinegia Bella' à 12 voci and 'Cantiam de Dio', also à 12 - in three choirs, are missing from this collection - maybe these works (along with some more madrigals of Giovanni Gabrieli) will appear on a follow up recording?? ;-))I Fagiolini sing with pathos, passion, style, grace, fun and grit, when needed. The English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble also makes very bold, impressive and colourful noises, too!The whole thing is quite wonderful and it is clear to me that Andrea Gabrieli is a very worthy composer and I hope that these groups join together again and record more of this marvellous repertoire. Gabrieli wrote a large number of madrigals, possibly more than Monteverdi, and, judging from this recording, they are very fine and expressive pieces of music. Listen to the large madrigal - "O passi sparsi" - on this recording, which is done as a duet for countertenor (Robin Blaze) and high tenor (Nicholas Mulroy) voices with the full forces of the EC&SE (and transposed down a major 4th to make the two top lines of each choir fit the voices and instruments). This piece is almost operatic in its expressiveness. It makes me wonder what Andrea Gabrieli would have composed if he had lived on into the time of Monteverdi and the birth of opera - perhaps he would have given the young Claudio a run for his money?
Nonetheless, works like "O passi sparsi" demonstrate Gabrieli's skill at work painting and creating music of deep feelings.Well done to you, Mr. Hollingworth, and your team.
Bravo!"

I Fagiolini (not Robin Blaze)!

Mr Hollingworth | 09/09/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Just a quickie to let the reader know that this is an I Fagiolini recording (with the English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble). Robin Blaze does indeed appear on the recording as part of the team but even Robin wouldn't even say that it was his recording!I conceived this recording and I direct the group so I'm not the most impartial person to review it - but it has been done with a lot of love, care and at times humour (including two filthy Venetian old men's songs) and I'd recommend it heartily. Go to www.ifagiolini.com for more info."

Blame It on the Recording Engineers!

Giordano Bruno | Wherever I am, I am. | 03/06/2010

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Well, I don't know if that's entirely fair but my heart is always with the performers. Whatever the cause, this CD is impossible to listen to. The Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble is particularly murky and distorted; the sound is like what you hear on an old car radio even when the CD is played on high quality equipment. I suspect that I might not be entirely satisfied with the ensemble's performance in a live concert either, but I hesitate to judge. Their style of articulation seems 'thick' to me, and their timbres rather growly. They are NOT at the standard of Concerto Palatino, that much is obvious.



I hate to deprecate any ensemble doing music written before 1600, but I can't help hearing a lot of unevenness in the vocal technique of the singers of 'I Fagiolini'. It's an inventive, audacious ensemble - one that I'd like to encourage. Their DVDs of Monteverdi and L'Amfiparnasso are wonderfully entertaining. But their blemishes of ensemble are just too evident on this CD. Toooo bad! As the notes to this CD declare, Andrea Gabrieli was a major composer and figure in the history of music, but recordings of his works are scarce."