Fresh views of Venice
The two Basel ensembles Concerto Scirocco and Voces Suaves offer a Venetian program that gives an impression of what it might have sounded like on a festive day in San Marco Cathedral.
It is always gratifying when young Swiss ensembles establish themselves internationally. This CD brings together two such up-and-coming groups of musicians, both from Basel: the ensemble Concerto Scirocco, founded and directed by Giulia Genini in 2009, and the ensemble Voces Suaves, founded in 2012 by Tobias Wicky and directed until 2015 by Francesco Saverio Pedrini. This is the first CD for Concerto Scirocco and the fourth for Voces Suaves. In this recording, both ensembles amply demonstrate that they more than deserve their growing reputation.
The CD cover is adorned with a picture of St. Mark's Square in Venice. The program consists of motets for five and eight voices, interspersed with instrumental and organ pieces. At first glance, one might think of a rather traditional compilation of music from the Venetian school, but the choice of vocal repertoire here is quite original: no Gabrieli, no Monteverdi, but Giovanni Croce. (Accordingly, the painting depicted is not by Tiziano Vecellio, but by his cousin Cesare). Croce was Monteverdi's predecessor as Kapellmeister in San Marco from 1603 until his death in 1609, an extremely successful and productive composer whose works continued to be reprinted until 1622. Today his fame is overshadowed by his successor, but his music actually gives a better impression than Monteverdi's surviving works of what a festive liturgy in San Marco might have sounded like at the time. As he did not publish any organ works, the organ pieces are by Giovanni Picchi, Vincenzo Bell'haver, Giovanni and Andrea Gabrieli and Claudio Merulo. Overall, the program demonstrates the tonal and stylistic diversity of musical practice in Venice at the time. The title of the CD refers to the main sources: two collections of Croce's sacred compositions, Motetti a otto voci, libro primo (Venice 1594) and Sacrae cantiones quinis vocibus concinendae (Venice 1605).
The very detailed notes by the Italian musicologist Rodolfo Baroncini analytically convey this musical diversity, and the reviewer agrees with his assessment that the two motets Percussit Saul mille and Virgo decus nemorum are the highlights of the program: They effectively convey the content of the texts and make full use of the technical possibilities of the Venetian school.
It's just a shame that no space was found in the four-language booklet to include biographies of the musicians. Pedrini, organist and former director of the vocal ensemble Voces Suaves, takes pen in hand himself, but only to describe the recording location: the church of Santa Barbara in the Ducal Palace in Mantua. This is no ordinary church: it is inextricably linked with the name - yet again - of Claudio Monteverdi, who worked there at the court of the Gonzaga family before his Venetian period. The sound engineer Daniel Comploi has impressively captured the sound of the ensemble pieces in this historic location, and the Renaissance organ by Graziadio Antegnati sounds outstanding. Anyone who would like to hear the CD program live will have the opportunity to do so on 15 April in Romainmôtier.
Giovanni Croce: Motetti & Cantiones sacrae. Voces Suaves, Concerto Scirocco; Francesco Saverio Pedrini, Giulia Genini. Arcana A 439
