GESUALDO

Sacrae Cantiones, Book 1

The Marian Consort/rory Mccleery

Delphian DCD 34176 60:55 mins

Stained with the blood of his first wife, whom he murdered in flagrante delicto, and tormented by accusations that his lover was a witch, Carlo Gesualdo spent his last years in search of absolution. His quest produced some of the most remarkable musical offerings of the period, including the brooding Tenebrae Responsories and two books of sacred motets, the Sacrae Cantiones of 1603. There are surprisingly few recordings of the latter, though they are just as expressive and disquieting as his more famous works.

The Marian Consort here presents the first book: 19 motets for five voices setting starkly penitential texts. Highly-charged dissonances, strange harmonic progressions and harsh chromaticisms paint words that implore and plead and cry out for mercy. Though they are as dramatic as Gesualdo’s madrigals, these sacred works inhabit a very different world, which the ensemble enhances with its ethereal sound. The voices float in a transparent acoustic and expressive gestures are generally subdued – aptly so for works intended for private devotion and penitence.

Rory Mccleery laces these fleeing pieces into a cogent, deeply introspective, musical rosary, and if his unity of vision leads to a rather unvarying approach to tempo and timbre, this is a small caveat, for these are haunting accounts.