COMPOSERS: Palestrina,Schein,Vierdanck
LABELS: Hyperion
WORKS: Vestiva i colli; Ricercate, passaggi et cadentie; Padoana
PERFORMER: Timothy Roberts (organ, harpsichord); His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts
CATALOGUE NO: CDA 66847 DDD
This is everything a grand tour should be: educating, entertaining and enriching. In their exploration of the musical legacy for this combination of instruments His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts guide us through ceremonial, virtuosic and sometimes intensely expressive music.
Jeremy West, international exponent of the cornett, breathes life into a set of divisions on Palestrina’s madrigal ‘Vestiva i colli’ by Giovanni Bassano, a virtuoso cornettist at St Mark’s, Venice, whose Ricercate, passaggi et cadentie (1585) is an invaluable source for the study of ornamentation. The expressive Padoana by Schein, and Sonata 31 by Johann Vierdanck, with its unusual, vigorous unison passages, are noteworthy examples of the rich tradition of German instrumental music. Well worth exploring. Deborah Calland