Pietro VINCI: Quattordeci Sonetti Spirituali
The fourteen Sonetti Spirituali (1580) of the Sicilian-born Pietro Vinci (c. 1525–84) manifest an extraordinary blend of the secular and the religious in a narrative largely concerned with the birth, death and transfiguration of Christ. Setting Petrarchan texts by the aristocratic Vittoria Colonna (c. 1490–1547), a close friend of Michelangelo, in five parts, Vinci marries the stylised gestures of the Mannerist madrigal and the spiritual sincerity of the Latin motet, creating an unusually expressive hybrid that manages to be both texturally complex and emotionally direct.
Anney Barrett, soprano
Matthew Anderson, tenor
Jason McStoots, tenor
Michael Barrett, tenor
Steven Hrycelak, bass
Nota Bene
Joanna Blendulf, treble and bass viols
Wendy Gillespie, bass viol
Sarah Mead, alto and great bass viols
Emily Walhout, alto, bass and great bass viols with Julie Jeffrey, bass viol
Listen To This Recording:
- Padre nostro
- Dal fermo stato
- Della Passione: Le braccia aprendo
- Della Passione: Mostrossi il dolce
- Della Passione: Pende l’alto Signor
- Della Passione: Viva di fiamma
- Del Venerdi Santo: Gli angeli eletti
- Del Venerdi Santo: Asconde il sol
- Del Sacramento: Qui non è il loco humil
- Del Sacramento: So che quel vero
- Del Spirito Santo: Divino spirito
- Del Spirito Santo: Io per me sono
- Della Madonna: Vergine pura
- Della Madonna: Immortal Dio
- Della Madonna: Stella del nostro mar
- Della Madonna: Veggio il figliuol di Dio
- Della Natività della Madonna: Rinasca in Te mio cor
- Della Natività della Madonna: Sò ch’ella prega
- Della Madonna: Quando senza spezzar
- Della Madonna: Ma la fede la tenne
- Di san Giovanni Evangelista: Quando quell’empio
- Di san Giovanni Evangelista: Ond’ei cadde
- Della Maddalena: La bella donna
- Della Maddalena: Ed agli uomini eletti
- De’ Tre Maggi: Quanta gioia
- De’ Tre Maggi: Il loco, gli animali
- Delli Innocenti: Puri innocent
- Delli Innocenti: Tolti dal latte
FIRST RECORDINGS
MusicWeb International :
‘The five voices, well blended throughout this disc, capture a domestic immediacy in the music by being quite closely recorded. […]
Overall this is a worthwhile excursion into a little known but stimulating corner of late Renaissance repertoire. Fans of this genre will find their investigations here amply rewarded.’
—Curtis Rogers, MusicWeb International
Early Music Review :
‘These fourteen ‘spiritual sonnets’ by Vittoria Colonna set in five parts by the Sicilian composer Pietro Vinci, and receiving their first recording here, are striking pieces, combining the traditions of both secular and sacred vocal music. […] this is intriguing music well worth unearthing and recording, and rewarding to listen to. […] In any case, Nota Bene and their vocalists have succeeded in bringing Vinci’s distinctive music to the wider audience it surely deserves.’
—D. James Ross, Early Music Review
WTJU :
‘His florid polyphony compellingly illuminates the text. Every note (and concordance of notes). conveys the emotional content of the poetry. […]
These five-voice madrigals receive fine performances from the assembled quintet. […]
There’s a serenity to this music I found quite appealing. If you’re willing to take an hour out of your stressful day and turn your thoughts (and ears) to something higher, this is a recording for you.’
—Ralph Graves, WTJU
Fanfare :
‘The high standard of interpretation and performance in the first madrigal pair is consistent throughout the recording, which should come as no surprise given the performers, who are among the finest in the field. Though there are insecure ensemble moments occasionally, these are few and far between. Some listeners may prefer more dramatic renderings of this music, but I find these restrained, subtle performances a more intelligent approach for the music and its context.’
—Fanfare
MusicWeb International :
Viol consort Nota Bene and the quintet of singers whom they accompany have unearthed here a Renaissance gem, apparently its first recording. Pietro Vinci was an accomplished exponent of madrigals, and on the evidence of this recording, clearly underrated today. […]
So vivid, even exuberant, are Vinci’s settings in their musical rhetoric, matching the fervour of the poetry, that they herald a Baroque style of expression which Monteverdi and his contemporaries would develop more comprehensively in the decades immediately after Vinci’s death. […]
The five singers here convey the music’s private fervour throughout the fourteen sonnets – each divided into two parts of eight and six lines – which reflect on various aspects of the lives of Christ and the Virgin Mary, or express devotion to and adoration of them. Some of the madrigals raise the listener into a state of awe or worship before the majesty of the persons or situations contemplated – like beholding a Titian painting or a Michelangelo fresco – such as the studied, chant-like concentration in the tone of the lower vocal parts in some pieces. At other times, there is a more engagingly human aspect to the music as the poetry addresses certain events recounted in the Bible, like the way in which Tintoretto places the viewer of his paintings almost directly into his depictions of Biblical scenes as though they are happening in the here and now, or Veronese brings quotidian reality to bear on his artistic imaginings. […]
The five voices, well blended throughout this disc, capture a domestic immediacy in the music by being quite closely recorded. […]
Overall this is a worthwhile excursion into a little known but stimulating corner of late Renaissance repertoire. Fans of this genre will find their investigations here amply rewarded.’
—Curtis Rogers, MusicWeb International