Judicium Extremum, oratorio for 5 soloists, double chorus, 2 violins & continuo
1. Aspiciebam in visione noctis
2. Tunc, horriblil sonitu
3. Tunc, apertis caelis
4. Quam magna, quam amara

Jonas, oratorio for soloists, 5 voices, 2 violins & continuo
5. Cum repleta esset Ninive
6. Jonas autem interioribus navis
7. Justus es, Domine
8. Et imperavit Dominus pisci

Jephte, oratorio for 6 voices & continuo
9. Cum vocasset in proelium
10. Cum autem vicor Jephte
11. Cum vidisset Jephte
12. Plorate colles
13. Plorate, filii Israel

Ruth Holton – soprano
Ashley Stafford – soprano
Nigel Robson – tenor
Mark Tucker – tenor
Stephen Charlesworth – baritone
Monteverdi Choir
Members of the English Baroque Soloists
His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts
John Eliot Gardiner – conductor

Exquisite recordings of these three early 'oratorios' by Carissimi. I put oratorio in scare quotes just in case visions of Handel spring up. Indeed, even comparing Carissimi's works with his, rough (in more ways than one!), contemporary, Stradella, would be mistaken as none of the works here last more than half an hour. Indeed, in his masterful Jepthe, the narrative is essentially one compressed scene from the (paraphrased) Biblical text. Which gives it all a wonderful concentration, making the lament of Jepthe's daughter ('Plorate colles') all the more emotionally crushing. ---Colin Hughes, amazon.com

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1.    Il mio core è un mar di pianti (duetto) (5:06)
2.    Bel tempo per me se n'andò (contre-ténor) (5:57)
3.    Tu m'hai preso (soprano) (5:29)
4.    Lettera amorosa (contre-ténor) (8:56)
5.    I filosofo (duetto) (8:45)
6.    Partenza dalla sua Donna (duetto) (2:20)
7.    Lungi omai, deh, spiega i vanni (duetto) (2:19)
8.    Così volete (soprano) (7:03)
9.    Sonetto: Hor che di Sirio (contre-ténor) (7:43)
10.    Deh, memoria (soprano) (6:01)
11.    Peregrin d'ignoto sponde (duetto) (4:38)
12.    Vaghi rai, pupille ardenti (duetto) (3:46)

Concerto Vocale: 
Agnes Mellon, soprano 
Rene Jacobs, contre-tenor 
Ageet Zweistra, violoncelle 
Yvon Reperant, clavecin 
Konrad Junghanel, theorbe 

Rene Jacobs, director.

Perhaps worthy of being designated the father of the oratorio, Giacomo Carissimi was among the most important Italian composers of the seventeenth century. He is best remembered for his oratorios and cantatas. Carissimi was born somewhere near Rome and baptized on April 18, 1605; an exact date of birth is not known. He was the son of an artisan, but he must have received a good deal of early musical training, for at the age of 18 he was recorded as a member of the Tivoli Cathedral choir. In 1625, he became the organist at the cathedral, and soon after that began composing.

Carissimi received his first and only important appointment in 1629: he became maestro di cappella of the Collegio Germanico in Rome. The Collegio Germanico was, at that time, a major center for Jesuit learning; Carissimi's position there commanded considerable influence and respect, and the composer would remain there until his death. As maestro di cappella, Carissimi was responsible for the musical training of students, the directorship of the choir, and the preparation of music for services at the church of St. Apollinare. In 1637, he was ordained as a priest. Carissimi became well-known and well-respected in Italy and across Europe, and was invited to accept employment at a number of important churches and courts. He turned down the opportunity to succeed Monteverdi at the famous St. Mark's in Venice, however, and likewise declined to serve in the court of the governor of the Netherlands.

While it is difficult to accurately catalog and date Carissimi's music, it is certain that he was one of the originators of the oratorio genre. His oratorios are notable for their clear text settings, the importance given to the chorus, and the use of expressive gestures to intensify and illustrate meanings in the text. The influence of early opera, and of Monteverdi in particular, is evident in the oratorios, and Carissimi's free alternation of aria- and recitative-style passages is considered an important contribution to the development and refinement of operatic recitative. All the operatic means, however, are turned to religious ends; Carissimi's oratorios are sacred pieces, not the middle-class entertainments that Handel would create a century later. Carissimi also met with fame as a composer of cantatas, and, as with the oratorio, he advanced that genre substantially.

Carissimi was an influential figure, and several composers of the next generation bear the marks of his innovations and style. These included Alessandro Scarlatti in Italy, Christoph Bernhard in Germany, and Marc-Antoine Charpentier in France. --- Alexander Carpenter, Rovi

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01. Messa - Kyrie I 
02. Messa - Sinfonia I 
03. Messa - Christe 
04. Messa - Sinfonia II 
05. Messa - Kyrie II 
06. Messa - Sinfonia III 
07. Messa - Gloria 
08. Messa - Officium, Mottetto Suscitavit Dominus 
09. Messa - Credo 
10. Messa - Offertorium, Mottetto Exurge cor meum 
11. Messa - Sanctus 
12. Messa - Agnus Dei 
13. Messa - Communio, Mottetto Ardens est cor nostrum 
14. Messa - Ite, missa est 
15. Cantata - Sciolto havean dall'alte sponde 
16. Cantata - Eran lingue di tormento 
17. Cantata - Amor non più 
18. Cantata - Due pupille che son nere 
19. Cantata- Non sperar, folle mio core 
20. Cantata- Su guancia di rosa 
21. Cantata- Amor non più, non più 
22. Cantata- Udite, udite, Amanti 
23. Cantata- Fosco vel copra le stelle 
24. Cantata- Senza sperme di mercede 
25. Cantata- Chi d'Amor soffre i martiri 
26. Cantata- A miel danni, a ma rovina 
27. Cantata- Chi d'Amor soffre i martiri 
28. Cantata- Tacquer gl'Amanti a pena 
29. Cantata- Amanti, che dite

Le Institutioni Harmoniche 
Marco Longhini - director

The works of Giacomo Carissimi, the giant of the early Italian Baroque outside the realm of opera, are finally receiving recordings beyond his bona fide masterpiece, the oratorio Jephte. The unusual pair of works presented here has also been recorded by the French early music group La Fenice. The Missa Sciolto havean dall'alte sponde is a very late example of the parody mass, a setting of the mass based on music from an existing work, which may be secular and in this case is. The parody mass was a common procedure in the Renaissance, but must have been a novelty in Carissimi's time. The secular work in question is a cantata, Sciolto havean dall'alte sponde, of 1653, depicting a pair of lovers on a storm-tossed sea. The pairing is a fascinating one, offering plenty of insights into how composers of this era thought about representations of the sacred and the secular in music; symbolism travels from cantata to mass, but fundamental changes are made to the material of the cantata, as well, first and foremost its adaptation from a setting for two sopranos, baritone, and continuo to a five-part vocal setting with strings and continuo. The recording here by Le Istituzioni Harmoniche, Verona, under Marco Longhini is bigger in its dimensions, especially in the mass, than that by La Fenice; one imagines this performance being sung in a cathedral (or, in the case of the cantata, in an elaborate garden of a Renaissance palazzo), whereas the La Fenice version evokes a smaller room with a group of musically informed listeners. Another difference is that this disc presents the mass in a sequence of events appropriate to its time, with chant incipits and a few motets by Carissimi (for various forces) inserted into the mass to serve as its Proper sections. (La Fenice uses the extra room to offer an additional work instead.) To an extent the choice between the two is a matter of preference, but for many listeners the intimate atmosphere of the La Fenice disc and the fabulous sensitivity of its singers will better communicate the dramatic touches in Carissimi's settings. ---James Manheim, Rovi

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01. La Vergine
02. canto I, canto II
03. alto
04. tenore I
05. tenore II e basso I
06. basso II
07. Historicus I, Historicus II
08. Isaias
09. Ezechias
10. Dominus
11. maestro de coro

Oratorio della SS. Vergine:
Pamela Borri, La Vergine
Patricia Pace, canto I
Nunzia Santodirocco, canto II
Luigi Petroni, alto
Francesco Sclaverano, tenore I
Mario Boccardo, tenore II и basso I
Aurio Tomicich, basso II

Ezechias:
Alla Simonichvili, Historicus I
Nunzia Santodirocco, Historicus II
Pamela Borri, Isaias
Francesco Sclaverano, Ezechias
Auro Tomicich, Dominus

Mauro Gizi (Maestro del coro)

Ensemble Seicentonovecento
Flavio Colusso – conductor

Oratorio della SS. Vergine. This work, like Daniele, his other Italian-language oratorio, is probably an early composition, possibly written before Carissimi became associated with the Church of the Santissimo Crucifisso. It is a remarkable work, with its combination of mysticism and sensuality (like the later Sponsa Canticorum), secular and sacred imagery, and the meticulous craftsmanship, with special attention to the musical relations and structures. For example, the Virgin's music is written almost entirely in F major, and none of the other soloists enter this key, as if emphasizing her unique status, and she is the only solo soprano (the other soprano sections are duets without more than a few solo bars for either singer.)

The text and music mingle pagan and Christian imagery, a reminder that many elements of pagan religions have their counterpoints in Christianity and that the Christian calendar subsumed many of the Greek and Roman festivals. The Virgin and Aurora (the goddess of the dawn) are treated as counterparts, and the last section, after the dramatic description of the Virgin's despoiling Hell (based on Revelation), is nothing other than an Arcadian pastoral, complete with a madrigal-like concluding chorus, and with only one indirect reference to the Virgin.

The opening simphonia, with a repeated pattern of rising scales that suggests the rising sun, is followed by a duet for two sopranos that also uses the same pattern as they describe the appearance of the Virgin. The vocal lines are fairly simple, but often use a close harmony than enhances the sense of richness. The Virgin's lines, in her first solo, are written over steady chords in the accompaniment and embellished by the other instruments, and finish with her melodious refrain, "ne senza me," which occurs at the end of each solo, and is followed by a solo passage from the tenor, bass, and tenor again, respectively.

The next section opens with another solo from the Virgin, which opens with the same mystical tone as the beginning, but grows to martial fervor as she describes the victory of God over the serpent (Satan.) This is followed by a section reminiscent of the Latin oratorios, in which the opening phrase is sung by the two sopranos who opened the work and then repeated by the entire chorus with the sopranos.

The second part of the work opens with a bass solo dramatically describing Judith's victory over Holofernes, punctuated by heavy instrumental chords similar to those in the section when the Virgin describes the victory of God and in the later section describing her own victory over the serpent. The next solo returns to themes from Greek mythology, as the tenor declaims in a jubilant passage, that neither Delos or Colchis (the homes of Medea and Circe) have seen the Virgin's equal, and is followed by the bass' tense description of the serpent's trail of destruction and final defeat. The brass that accompanies this section is remarkably effective, especially in contrast to the following jubilantly pastoral trio. The pastoral mood is sustained throughout this ending, and the repeated "su, su, verginelle" is so dance-like and light that it could be put into nearly any secular work with such a scene. The closing chorus combines clarity, simplicity, and an element of dignity, as if to create a final synthesis of the first and second parts. --- Anne Feeney, Rovi

Ezechias. The story from which Carissimi drew this text is one of the many that gives Biblical archaeologists and historians steady work, as it describes the sun going backwards ten degrees. It also inspired two of Carissimi's most inspired dramatic moments.

After a brief, sober simphonia, the two soprano narrators and the bass singing the part of the Lord swiftly set the scene with sober recitative, which leads to Isaiah's announcement to the king of his impending death. Carissimi gave this an otherworldly feel by setting it in a near-monotone over a deep, funereal organ accompaniment, and casting Isaiah as an alto, which in that period, would have given some gender ambiguity. The narrators' music then becomes, for the first time, emotional as it imitates sighs and tears. Ezechias' prayer, which immediately follows, is the central point, both structurally and emotionally. It is very directly written, though like all Carissimi's works, carefully structured, and vividly expresses Ezechias' despair in its arching refrain "Parce mihi, Domine, et miserere." (Spare me, Lord, and have mercy.) It has three sections, each of which is followed by a brief orchestral passage. The first two orchestral "responses" are identical, but the third is faster and almost jubilant, an indication that the situation has changed. The narrators' music is again dispassionate in the recitative that introduces the Lord's announcement that Ezechias will instead live. As Ezechias (rather ungratefully!) asks for a sign that God will in fact do this, and in a majestic passage, over the horns, God responds with the description of the sign he will give, the sun going backwards ten degrees. The narrators describe this in music which, to illustrate further this disruption of the natural order, breaks away from their thirds in which they have sung throughout most of the piece. Ezechias responds in an arioso that contains elements of the majesty that marked God's music, alternating with exultant runs. The oratorio ends with a concerted madrigal-like section for all the voices that displays Carissimi's mastery of counterpoint. --- Anne Feeney, Rovi

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Giacomo CARISSIMI (1605-1674)
1.Cum reverteretur David, motet for 3 voices and bc [04:09]
2.Benedictus Deus et Pater, motet for 3 voices and bc [[04:30]

Girolamo FRESCOBALDI (1583-1643)
3.Partite sopra La Monicha for keyboard [07:17]

Giacomo CARISSIMI
4.Exulta, gaude, filia Sion, motet for two voices and bc*/*** [05:07]

Giovanni Girolamo KAPSBERGER (c1580-1651)
5.Toccata XI for chitarrone [02:01]

Giacomo CARISSIMI
6.Va dimanda al mio pensiero, cantata for solo voice and bc [05:38]

Giovanni Girolamo KAPSBERGER
7.Prelude XI for chitarrone [00:36]

Giacomo CARISSIMI
8.O dulcissimum Mariae nomen, motet for two voices and bc*/** [03:31]
9.Siam tre miseri piangenti, cantata for three voices and bc [08:16]

Michelangelo ROSSI (1601/02-1656)
10.Toccata VII for keyboard [04:07]

Giacomo CARISSIMI
11.Surrexit pastor bonus, motet for three voices and bc [02:23]
12.Ahi, non torna, cantata for two voices and bc**/*** [05:06]
13.Piangete, ohimè piangete, cantata for solo voice and bc* [05:42]

Giovanni Girolamo KAPSBERGER
14.Prelude X for chitarrone [00:54]

Giacomo CARISSIMI
15.Si dia bando, alla speranza, cantata for solo voice and bc** [03:47]
16.Omnes gentes gaudete cum victore, motet for three voices and bc [03:39]

Concerto delle Donne:
Gill Ross - soprano
Donna Deam - soprano
Elin Manahan Thomas - soprano
Alastair Ross - keyboards
David Miller - chitarrone

Three sopranos, whose voices blend delightfully together, make up the latter day Concerto delle Donne to specialise in the late 16th & early 17th Century repertoire of court ladies in Ferrara. They concentrate on cantatas and motets by Giacomo Carissimi (1605-74), the secular items intense settings of texts about the torments and joys of love. Several by Carissimi are in the library of Christ Church Oxford; the cantata Siam tre miseri piangenti is full of pain, suffering and anger, with three equal voices intertwining and reacting to one another. Donna Deam's solo Piangete and Gill Ross' and Elin Thomas's duet Ahi, non torna are in like mood, with 'highly emotional, self-obsessed texts', but Va dimanda al mio pensiero and Si dia bando, alla speranza are lighter – attractive, tuneful pieces.

The church music includes Cum reverteretur David, a virtuosic account of the rivalry between David and Saul. Exulta, gaude, filia Sion celebrates Christmas and may be the only item recorded previously, and Benedictus Deus et Pater weaves rich dissonances, as does Michelangelo Rossi in the most extraordinary of the instrumental items, his dissonant chromatic Toccata Settima for harpsichord. The accompaniments are varied with harpsichord and organ (their coding on p. 26 of the otherwise excellent booklet reversed with respect to the identification of performers on p. 2) and citarrone; there are also a few short solo pieces by Kapsberger for that eye-catching bass lute, usually seen but little heard in period orchestras.

In one of the solos there are signs of a little stress in highest tessitura, but nothing to put you off. Recommended for all collectors of the exuberant Italian vocal music of this period. ---Peter Grahame Woolf, classical.net

Carissimi is sometimes thought of as a "one-work composer" known to the average music-lover only for his oratorio Jephte. Choral Societies looking for 17th century music earlier than Purcell are therefore likely to choose Jephte.

Alastair Ross first became interested in Carissimi’s music for the 3-soprano Concerto delle Donne line-up when he was asked to prepare a programme “Handel and his predecessors in Italy” for the 1977 Göttingen Festival. A review of Carissimi's oeuvre showed that there were several pieces by Carissimi in the library of Christ Church Oxford just waiting to be performed by the group! He chose the cantata Siam tre miseri piangenti which has become a regular item in their concerts and which is central to this recording. It’s a marvellous piece, full of pain, suffering and anger. The three voices really are equal in the way they intertwine and react to one another. Donna Deam’s solo Piangete and Gill Ross' and Elin Thomas’s duet Ahi, non torna are similar in mood. Maybe in our cynical 21st century we find it difficult to relate to these highly emotional, self-obsessed, texts, but there’s no denying that they inspired some wonderful music! Va dimanda al mio pensiero’ and Si dia bando, alla speranza are lighter in mood – both attractive, tuneful pieces.

There is plenty of variety in the church music as well. Cum reverteretur David, which begins the CD, is brilliant and virtuosic, a dramatic account of the rivalry between David and Saul. The duet Exulta, gaude, filia Sion is a joyful celebration of Christmas. In Benedictus Deus et Pater the voices weave rich dissonances to convey the suffering of the text; there’s something of the mood of Allegri’s Miserere here.

In addition to the vocal pieces the disc includes a set of variations by Frescobaldi and Michelangelo Rossi’s flamboyant and chromatic Toccata Settima for harpsichord, together with Kapspereger’s charming improvisations for chittarone.

We believe that only one of the Carissimi pieces on this CD, Exulta, gaude, filia Sion, has been recorded before, so the disc will be an important event in the recorded-music world, and one which we hope will revive interest in this unjustly neglected composer. ---music-island.pl

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