Carlo Gesualdo is as notorious as he is celebrated: a prince, a count, a composer and a murderer who killed his first wife and her lover upon catching them together. His music is as knotty as his life—challenging to sing, much of it is full of chromatic dissonance and intriguing, daring key changes. And there’s real emotional depth here thanks to Gesualdo’s matchless word-painting, each choral work demonstrating the boundless fertility of his imagination. His first and second books of madrigals contain examples of his finest work, all performed here with agility and spot-on tuning by Les Arts Florissants and Paul Agnew.
Disc 1
Disc 2
- Claron McFadden, Bernarda Fink, English Baroque Soloists, Dietrich Henschel, Christoph Genz, John Eliot Gardiner, Monteverdi Choir, James Gilchrist, Peter Harvey, Sally Bruce-Payne & Michael Chance
- Sir Peter Pears, John Shirley-Quirk, James Bowman & Benjamin Britten
- Christophe Rousset, Les Talens Lyriques, Judith Van Wanroij, Edwin Crossley-Mercer, Emiliano Gonzales Toro, Bre Williams, Etienne Bazola, Bénédicte Tauran, Lucía Martín-Cartón, Enguerrand de Hys & Chœur de chambre Namur
- Jordi Savall & Montserrat Figueras
- The King's Consort, Carolyn Sampson, Emily Owen, Iestyn Davies, Hugh Cutting, Charles Daniels, David de Winter, Matthew Brook, Edward Grint & Robert King
- James Gilchrist, Malin Hartelius, English Baroque Soloists, William Towers, Peter Harvey, John Eliot Gardiner, Monteverdi Choir, Thomas Guthrie, Mark Padmore, Katherine Fuge & Robin Tyson
- Les Talens Lyriques, Christophe Rousset, Cyril Auvity, Edwin Crossley-Mercer, Bénédicte Tauran, Eve-Maud Hubeaux, Ambroisine Bré & Philippe Estèphe