Robert Hollingworth and I Fagiolini to restore lost Italian treasures from 1612 for Decca
Conductor Robert Hollingworth
and the British vocal ensemble I Fagiolini are to reconstruct a 400-year-old lost choral masterpiece for seven choirs and release world-premiere recordings of Italian Vespers for Decca.
1612 Italian Vespers follows the ensemble’s acclaimed 2011 debut
on Decca of Striggio’s Mass in 40 Parts and is being described as “a majestic and intricate feast of kaleidoscopic color for voices, brass, wind, strings, lutes and organs”.
The recording includes the first appearance on disc of Viadana’s four-choir Vesper Psalms, a reconstruction of Giovanni Gabrieli’s 28-voice Magnificat, a reconstitution of his In Ecclesiis and other lost treasures from the High Renaissance and early Baroque.
Speaking about the disc, Hollingworth said: “The incredible power
and confidence of Gabrieli’s music is absolutely electrifying. We’ve travelled back 400 years to 1612 because the composer’s death that year closed a chapter in the incredible period of writing for multi-choir ensembles that Striggio had opened 50 years before.
“It’s thrilling to bring back Gabrieli’s Magnificat to life, to present
his In Ecclesiis in new clothes and to introduce Viadana, a composer who (as with Striggio) is practically unknown to the wider public. Viadana’s invention is startling: how could this superb music not already be well-known?”
1612 Italian Vespers is scheduled for release in June.
