Flavio Colusso

Brilliant Classics, 2013
9 CD Wallet Clamshell
Cat. Number 94491
EAN Code 5028421944913  

ENSEMBLE SEICENTONOVECENTO
Flavio Colusso, Conductor

About this release
Giacomo Carissimi may not exactly be a household name, but during his time he was one of the most respected musicians in Europe. Born in 1605, he avoided becoming a cooper, unlike the rest of his family, cultivating his musical talent first as a singer, then organist, and eventually chapel master. He enjoyed a succession of positions at various religious institutions in his native Italy, including the church of the Jesuit Collegium Germanicum in Rome - which, under his guidance, was transformed into an international centre for music.

Indeed, Carissimi was a highly influential teacher whose fame reached far abroad, thanks to a number of his pupils (Krieger and Charpentier, among others). Now regarded as the grandfather of modern European music, he was essentially responsible for the forging of a new medium of ecclesiastical expression, that of the oratorio, and it is to his cultivation of this genre that this compilation is dedicated. Carissimi would take an historia, or biblical episode, from the Old Testament, and using a range of expressive procedures transform the narrative into the form of a spiritual play - a sacred epic in which recitative, ariosos, arias and choruses follow each other without interruption. From the dramatic use of silence and chromaticism to dissonant chords and embellishments underlining an important word, Carissimi utilised a rich palette of expression in order to heighten the drama of the plot.

In their performances of works such as The Last Judgement and David and Jonathan, Ensemble Seicentonovecento - who aim to recreate the conditions and characteristics of 17th-century performance - breathe new life into this forgotten voice of the past. They are astutely led by Flavio Colusso, who also directs a number of the composer’s sacred motets.

Other information:
- Produced by Musicaimmagine, Rome 1994-1996
- Recorded in Halls A & B, via Asiago and Foro Italico (RAI), Rome.
- For the first time on CD: the complete sacred Oratorios by Carissimi!
- Giacomo Carissimi was a master of the early Italian Baroque, he lived from 1605 till 1674, a celebrated composer and chapel master. He is famous as the first composer of Oratorios, large scale works for vocal soloists, choir and instrumental group, depicting in a dramatic style certain episodes from the bible. With this he lay the foundation for the oratorio as composed by generations to come, notably Charpentier, Handel and later Mendelssohn.
- His most famous oratorios are Jephte, Jonas, Historia di Job, Diluvium Universale and Cain.
- Performances by one of the leading Italian conductors in the early music field: Flavio Colusso, with a fine line up of Italian vocal soloists and his own choir and instrumental Ensemble Seicentonovecento.

Judicium extremum / Oratorio della SS.ma Vergine / Peccavimus

Maria Chiara Chizzoni e Cristina Paolucci soprani
Antonio Giovannini, Massimiliano Mauthe von Degerfeld e Tiziana Pizzi alti
Maurizio Dalena, Vincenzo Di Betta e Francesco Sclaverano tenori
Emanuele Casani, Luigi De Donato e Roberto Valenti bassi

ENSEMBLE SEICENTONOVECENTO
CAPPELLA MUSICALE DI SAN GIACOMO, CAPPELLA MUSICALE THEATINA
Flavio Colusso, direttore al cembalo e voce recitante

Musicaimmagine Records, 1 CD MR04PR
[Live rec. Chiesa del Gesù, Roma 2005], 2005

Cristiana Arcari e Cristina Paolucci soprani
Massimiliano Mauthe von Degerfeld alto
Maurizio Dalena tenore, Aurio Tomicich basso

CAPPELLA MUSICALE THEATINA
Flavio Colusso, direttore al cembalo

Musicaimmagine Records, 1 CD MR01MT
[Live rec. Basilica di San Paolo Maggiore, Napoli 2003]
WORLD PREMIÈRE RECORDING, 2003

Allegato anche all’omonimo volume in partitura, LIM “Musica Theatina” I, 2003

Sara Allegretta, Pamela Borri, Vittoria D’Annibale, Tamara Felbinger, Hyun Chung Kim,
Patrizia Pace, Nunzia Santodirocco e Alla Simonichvili soprani
Aris Christofellis sopranista
Marco Lazzara, Jean Nirouët, Chiarastella Onorati e Maurizio Rippa alti
Maurizio Dalena, Luigi Petroni e Francesco Sclaverano tenori
Mario Boccardo baritono, Aurio Tomicich basso

ENSEMBLE SEICENTONOVECENTO
Mauro Gizzi maestro del coro
Flavio Colusso, direttore

Musicaimmagine Records, 9 CD MR10020-28
WORLD PREMIÈRE RECORDING, 1996

Margaret Baker-Genovesi e Anna Maria Ferrante soprani
Giuseppe Sabbatini tenore
Roberto Abbondanza e Giorgio Gatti baritoni

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791)
Arie per Anfossi (KV 187, KV 541, KV 420)
Anna Maria Ferrante soprano
Giuseppe Sabbatini tenore
Giorgio Gatti baritono

IL GRUPPO DI ROMA
Flavio Colusso, direttore

Bongiovanni-Inedita, 2 LP/CD GB10001/2-2
WORLD PREMIÈRE RECORDING, 1987/1988

un film musicale di Georg Brintrup

NEL CAST: Achille Brugnini, Giorgio Colangeli, Pasquale di Filippo, Flavio Colusso, Domenico Galasso,
Claudio Marchione, Franco Nero, Stefano Oppedisano, Remo Remotti, Renato Scarpa

Radu Marian sopranista, Antonio Giovannini e Jean Nirouët alti
Maurizio Dalena, Renato Moro, Raimundo Pereira e Luigi Petroni tenori, Aurio Tomicich basso

ENSEMBLE SEICENTONOVECENTO
CAPPELLA MUSICALE DI SAN GIACOMO
CORO DI VOCI BIANCHE “J.J. WINCKELMANN” (diretto da Donatella Casa)

Gloria Giordano coreografie, Raffaele Golino costumi, Änne Schanz-Kölsch scene
Georg Brintrup regia e sceneggiatura
Flavio Colusso, direttore

Film prodotto da Lichtspiel Entertainment GmbH/Musicaimmagine, su commissione di ZDF
in collaborazione con ARTE; 2009, Versione originale Italiana, sottotitoli Inglese,
colore, HD, Digi Beta 16:9, Stereo, 52’

Musicaimmagine, 1 DVD MV03 [in preparazione]