Les Cris de Paris / Geoffroy Jourdain PASSIONS

This is a fascinating and enjoyable journey back in time to Venice between the years 1600 and 1750. Alternating between transcendentally inspired secular music and sacred music embodied in theatrical fashion, Geoffroy Jourdain invites us to explore the multiple expressions of human passions. This exploration by respected Early Music ensemble Les Cris de Paris is built around five settings of the 'Crucifixus', namely Antonio Monteverdi's for four voices, Antonio Lotti's for 10, then eight, and six, and Antonio Caldara's for 16. All take the same Latin text that in English says "He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, died and was buried" and express it in a strikingly varied set of musical meditations. Each is worth hearing and taken collectively make an almost overwhelming impact. The rest of the 75 minute programme follows the same passionate theme, with some instrumental moments but mainly in choral singing of the very highest standard. The opening song by Tarquino Merula is "Hor ch'e tempo di dormira" or "Now that it is time to sleep", an imaginary lullaby sung by the mother of Jesus to her little baby that gradually becomes a heart-rending prophecy of all that he is to suffer. It is most eloquently sung by soprano Michiko Takahashi and it invites us in to what is to follow as we walk, to quote from the CD cover, "a bold Via Dolorosa to the very heart of Venetian baroque music." If your tastes run to Early Music or Baroque or if you appreciate excellence in choral singing this is well worth hearing and if you are new to these genres but are not afraid to go deeper this is an accessible introduction. (Steven Whitehead)

Les Cris de Paris / Geoffroy Jourdain MELANCHOLIA

A most unusual cabinet of curiosities: “Finding pleasure even in meditating on what causes one’s pain”: that neatly defines the theme of this album of music from the cusp of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth centuries. Here Italian and English madrigals rub shoulders with motets and Tenebrae responsories.

A melancholic poetry that provided endless nourishment for musical creativity in the late Renaissance and which Geoffroy Jourdain presents in his first recording for harmonia mundi.