La Stagione Armonica

A. Scarlatti: Responsories for the Holy Week: Good Friday La Stagione Armonica

When it comes to old Italian vocal music, the Padua-based Italian choir "La Stagione Armonica" under the direction of Sergio Balestracci has repeatedly demonstrated its high musical level: "The sound they make is appealing in its firm-throated expressiveness and in the way Balestracci's interpretative detailing somehow creates an air of simple yet fervent piety..", wrote the press about their first album at deutsche harmonia mundi with the responsories that Alessandro Scarlatti composed for Holy Saturday.

Their second album features Scarlatti's responsories for Good Friday. Born in Sicily in 1660, Scarlatti composed various responsories for Holy Week, which in their musical richness and emotional expressiveness allow us to understand the Passion of Jesus Christ in a gripping way. Although it is not certain that these pieces are in fact works by Scarlatti, Sergio Balestracci believes that there are enough valid elements to suggest that the hand-dubbed manuscripts on which the recording is based are in fact reproductions of the responsories that Scarlatti composed for the Grand Duke of Tuscany at the beginning of the 18th century. Titled "Ad Dominum cum tribularer", "Caro mea", "Domine in auxilium meum" or "Exaltabo te Domine", these responsories are in any case valuable works of deep inspiration in which Scarlatti finds an intense form of expression within the traditional rules of observed counterpoint.

Some of the touching works are accompanied by organ (organist: Carlo Steno Rossi) and four solo works for organ by Scarlatti also provide a charming contrast at various points. As on the first album, La Stagione Armonica manages to make the emotionally gripping music intense and expressive.