Search - Giaches de Wert, La Venexiana :: Giaches de Wert: La Gerusalemme Liberata

A reference point amongst madrigal recordings

Sator | Sydney, Australia | 07/11/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Giaches de Wert (1535 - 1596) was of Flemish origin but moved to Italy as a choirboy at a young age. Throughout his life he maintained a certain Flemishness to his style of composition while showing a keen awareness of the trends amongst other madrigalists of his age such as Marenzio, Monteverdi, and Luzzaschi. La Gerusalemme Liberata (Gerusalem Liberated) refers to the setting here of poems by Tasso portraying the vissitudes of the two protagonists of the tale, Erminia and Armida, although that said the text here mainly come from Battista Guarini's Il Pastor Fido.



Rarely has a single CD ever had so much unconditional praise heaped upon it so unanimously by so many reviewers. La Venexiana are increasingly consolidating their reputation as the leading madrigal singers on record. For a start they have the substantial advantage of singing in their mother tongue of Italian - so important when so often the 'parlato' rhetorical style of singing dominates as it does here, as it often did amongst Flemish composers - whereas the Italians of his time frequently explored a more chromatic style. Amongst the accolades it has received include the coveted Goldberg music magazine five star rating, as well as the highest possible ratings from Diapason, La Monde de la Musique, Répertoire, and Classica. Klassik-heute (the online German magazine) also gives it a 9/10 rating.



Maricarmen Gomez in Goldberg wrote:



"The style with which La Venexiana performs these is extraordinary, emphasising, in a special way, the moderate tempo which allows the music calmly to reach us and allows us to enjoy all the nuances of music and text that were right at the vanguard in its day. This recording is exemplary in all areas and is worthy of becoming a point of reference for enthusiasts of the madrigal genre."



The singing here as always from La Venexiana is refined to the extremes and utterly exquisite, capable of being both lyrical and declamatory according to the needs of the text. The recording quality is also excellent capturing the timbre of the vocalists' voices nicely. This is increasingly looking like it may become a yardstick against which all other recordings of madrigals will be measured."

Simply extraordinary

George Amis | Santa Cruz, CA USA | 02/06/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have been listening to madrigal performances for perhaps forty years. La Venexiana is the best group I have ever heard, and this cd is surely one of their best. Their singing is stunningly clear and elegant, but it is also deeply and convincingly expressive. All of these qualities are enhanced by the quality of the recording itself. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this to anyone with even the slightest interest in early music. Indeed, I would recommend it anyone with a serious interest in music of almost any kind."

Clip Your Coupons, Music Lovers! Cut Purses! Sell Lemonade!

Giordano Bruno | Wherever I am, I am. | 08/28/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Do whatever you need to scrape together the money to buy this recording of polyphonic madrigals by the currently obscure Flemish-Italian composer Giaches de Wert. Read the other reviews! I'm not alone in going ape over this CD. It's a performance impressive enough to force us all to rewrite our histories of late Renaissance music.



Giaches was not so obscure in his own era. He was the master of the musical establishment of the Gonzagas, rulers of the city state Mantua and extravagant patrons of the arts. He was also the personal friend and correspondent of the Este family of Ferrara, the closest political and artistic rivals of the Gonzagas. Giaches' music influenced every subsequent composer in north Italy - Gesualdo and Monteverdi, especially - not only in musical styles but in choices of poetic texts; Giaches led the charge away from the sedate formalism of Petrarch to the highly-charged peorty of Torquato Tasso and Battista Guarini. If ever music deserved to be called aphrodisiac, Giaches and his followers were the chemists. Don't believe me? Try an experiment. Find a willing lab partner, put this CD on your player, and sink into an embrace. Let the dissonant cadences and lush consonances swoon over you.



Giaches was apparently not immune to his own erotic harmonies. At some point he commenced a "liaison" with a noble-woman of Ferrara, Tarquinia Molza, one of the Este court's 'Concerto delle Dame', the most acclaimed singers in all Italy. Since Giaches was after all a mere commoner, this was a naughty no-no even to the Gonzagas, and Alfonso II ordered the pair to desist.



Aside from the stunningly high quality and originality of the music, this is an enthralling performance of polyphonic madrigals, enhanced by awesome sound-recording technology, possibly the most realistic I've ever heard. I can go to another room and swear the singers are in my house.



My apologies to Herr Schneider in China, and to other readers of my reviews. I know I'm driving you into bankruptcy with my recommendations, but this time I'm smiting my own credit account by ordering every other CD by La Venexiana on the market. They're that good!



Afterthought: One of the most proper functions of government in the Renaissance was support of the arts. The world would be painfully poorer of music today if that had not been the case in Mantua and Ferrara. It's also true that La Venexiana and nearly every other great performing ensemble of Europe would not exist were it not for generous support from governments - municipalities, provinces, and nations. If you wonder why the USA exports its musicians to Europe and has so few ensembles of the quality of La Venexiana, ask your nearest neoconservative or libertarian."