CARLO GESUALDO
Primo Libro di Madrigali
Ferrara, 1594

01 Baci soavi e cari
02 Madonna, io ben vorrei
03 Com’esser può ch’io viva se m’uccidi
04 Gelo ha madonna il seno
05 Mentre madonna il lasso fianco posa
06 Se da sì nobil mano
07 Sì gioioso mi fanno i dolor miei
08 O dolce mio martire
09 Tirsi morir volea
10 Mentre, mia stella, miri
11 Non mirar, non mirare
12 Questi leggiadri odorosetti fiori
13 Felice primavera
14 Son sì belle le rose
15 Bell’angioletta dalle vaghe piume

additional tracks:
Carlo Gesualdo
16 Gagliarda del Principe di Venosa (instr.)
17 Canzonetta – Come vivi cor mio
18 Canzonetta – All’ombra degli allori

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About this album

The only surviving version of Carlo Gesualdo’s First Book of Madrigals was printed in Spring 1594 by the typographer Vincenzo Baldini. At the time, the composer was twenty-eight years old and had just left behind the murder of his wife, in 1590. In this first publication Gesualdo probably collected pieces composed earlier than 1591. The music is written by a young author, far away from the better-known experimental composer of later years, yet is clear and faultless, and often very effective.
With this album, the members of La Compagnia del Madrigale complete the project which was initiated more than 20 years ago, by then under the name of La Venexiana: the recording of all six books of madrigals of Gesualdo, Prince of Venosa, for Glossa. Thanks to their deep knowledge of the music and the poetry of the time, their beautiful voices and precise tuning, and their exquisite mastery in expressing the affetti contained in these pieces, they have definitely set a reference for this demanding repertoire.