Customer Reviews

The Feast Of San Rocco, Venice 1608

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Just some comments on this recording: The Musica Fiata Koeln sound is pretty close to the sound I love in late renaissance sacred music. The brass players don't all constantly blend together as one homogeneous background sound; instead individual lines come in and out naturally helping to move the music along. I personally enjoy David Cordier's falsetto voice because of its distinct timbre adding flavor to the sound; just as I like the nasal timbre of the cornettos distinguishing themselves from the sackbutts.

The Cima pieces are all beautiful idyllic pieces and played with religious sincerely (the playing reminds me very much of Andrew Parrot's Monteverdi 1610 Vesper recording). A nice touch is the inclusion of a Gabrieli piece played on solo organ. Quite nice to hear the organ shine after it has been used as continuo for most of the recording.

I highly recommend this recording especially if you are into the multi-choral one voice per part concept or if you like the sound of Musica Fiata Koeln. Incidently Roland Wilson is a famous cornetto maker; 6 of the 9 cornettists on this recording are playing his instruments.

This is a fascinating set of two discs which sets out to recapture the sound of the Feast of San Rocco as it might have been celebrated in Venice in 1608. There's plenty of Gabrieli, Grandi and Cima with lesser known names like Barbarino and Castaldi -- the rather better known Monteverdi also makes an appearance in 'Salve, o regina'.

I'm not acquainted with the Gabrieli Consort's disc canvassing the same festival, but I have to say that this is a rather uneven set of discs. The central idea -- massive festival music -- is well realised. There are also some fine moments in the singing and playing including the Gabrieli sonata for three violins, Grandi's 'Salvum me' (superbly sung by Harry van der Kamp); the best track of these discs, conceptually and musically, is Gabrieli's Sonata XVIII a 14 which has an impressive architecture. But there is also some fairly hideous singing (most of it from David Cordier who sounds dreadful in In ecclesiis) and some out of tune brass playing which spoils some of the tracks. I keep coming back to these discs, though, almost in spite of myself -- the music is just that impressive.