Carlo Gesualdo: Quinto Libro di Madrigali
Album |
The marvelous music of a murderer.
If, like me, you read Wesley Stace's fine 2011 novel Charles Jessold, Considered As A Murderer, with a newfound interest in the music of early-17th-century composer Don Carlo Gesualdo, here's your opportunity to explore. An aristocrat who in 1590 murdered his wife and her illicit lover (and according to some versions of the story, their bastard child), Gesualdo's music was largely forgotten after his death. Its rediscovery in the early 20th century makes perfect sense, since the idiosyncratic vocal harmonies of his late work (these 21 tracks, Gesualdo's fifth book of madrigals, were composed in 1611, a mere two years before his death) prefigure the sometimes discordant chromatic harmonies of the late romantic and early modern eras. As a result, these 400-year-old madrigals sound startlingly fresh and lively to modern ears.
BUY: 
| Introduction to the Madrigal | |
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