Andrea Gabrieli is a composer who has been greatly overshadowed by his nephew, Giovanni, but is given a chance here to take the spotlight by himself (well, mostly by himself) with
I Fagiolini and the
English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble in this sampler of his madrigals. Most of Andrea's madrigals are rarely performed, much less recorded, but are important for their use of more pastoral and lighter texts than earlier ones and their use of both homorhythmic and polyphonic devices. The madrigals for eight or more voices are extremely colorful; there are particularly striking battle signals in Sento un rumor ch'al ciel si estolle. The performances are clear, precise, but also dynamic, bringing the works vibrantly to life, particularly when the voices are joined by the instrumental ensemble. There are examples of madrigals performed by the cornetts and sackbuts alone, which sound just as appropriate as the vocal versions. In Amami, vita mia, ch'io t'amo anchora, the instruments sing the echoes just as gently as the voices do. Overall the sound of the performances is warm and luminous, but in the few instances where a single theorbo, harpsichord, or organ accompanies the madrigal, the instrument is barely heard, making you wonder why they bothered. A couple of Giovanni's glowing works are tossed in, only because when Giovanni prepared Andrea's works for publication, he also threw in a few of his own.