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Track(s) taken from CDA66908

Sonata octavi toni a 12, C184

composer
1597; No 15 of Sacrae Symphoniae

His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts
Recording details: March 1997
St Jude-on-the-Hill, Hampstead Garden Suburb, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Mark Brown
Engineered by Antony Howell & Julian Millard
Release date: September 1997
Total duration: 4 minutes 37 seconds
 

Reviews

‘This superb disc … is the very essence of La Serenissima. Masterly performances, alive with authentic detail’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘Excellent. The playing is fluent and exhilarating. An excellent recording. The notes are exemplary’ (Classic CD)

‘Magnificent. The range of color, breadth and depth of sonority and the majestic nobility of the composer's conception are all revealed in a manner even the most expert of modern brass players could not possibly emulate. A superlative disc and a real credit to everyone involved’ (Fanfare, USA)

«L'ensemble anglais est aujourd'hui au sommet de son art» (Répertoire, France)
Like the Sonata pian’ e forte, this imposing piece is essentially a seamless, harmonized melody, whose wide reaches are passed from one choir to the other in a fine display of Gabrieli’s genius for controlled musical tension. Note the powerfully effective repetition of the penultimate section, and superb sense of new harmonies in the final tutti. The texture is remarkable, too, the centre of gravity in each of the six-part choirs being very low; the bottom four instruments are closely spaced, the top two wider apart, which helps the leader to shine and the second part (the top sackbut in our scoring) to emerge from the texture from time to time.

from notes by Timothy Roberts © 1997

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