Giaches de Wert: Versi d'Amore Voces Suaves

• Thor-Harald Johnsen, Giaches de Wert (1535 - 1596): Il primo libro delle canzonette villanelle:
• 1 JohnsenWert: Il primo libro delle canzonette villanelle: Voglia mi vien (Introduction and Refrains by Thor-Harald Johnsen) 02:31
• Giaches de Wert: Il primo libro delle canzonette villanelle:
• 2 Wert: Il primo libro delle canzonette villanelle: Un jour je m’en allais 04:17
• Il nono libro de madrigali:
• 3 Wert: Il nono libro de madrigali: Vago augelletto 04:45
• Thor-Harald Johnsen, Giaches de Wert: Il primo libro delle canzonette villanelle:
• 4 JohnsenWert: Il primo libro delle canzonette villanelle: De que sirve (Introduction and Refrains by Thor-Harald Johnsen) 02:28
• Giaches de Wert: Il nono libro de madrigali:
• 5 Wert: Il nono libro de madrigali: Mia benigna fortuna 06:26
• Il primo libro delle canzonette villanelle:
• 6 Wert: Il primo libro delle canzonette villanelle: Dica chi vuol 02:05
• Fronimo dialogo:
• 7 Wert: Fronimo dialogo: Ricercare 02:55
• Il decimo libro de madrigali:
• 8 Wert: Il decimo libro de madrigali: Amor che sai 02:33
• Il primo libro delle canzonette villanelle:
• 9 Wert: Il primo libro delle canzonette villanelle: M’ha punto Amor 03:20
• Il nono libro de madrigali:
• 10 Wert: Il nono libro de madrigali: Quel rossignol 05:48
• L’undecimo libro de madrigali:
• 11 Wert: L’undecimo libro de madrigali: Che fai Alma? 03:35
• Il decimo libro de madrigali:
• 12 Wert: Il decimo libro de madrigali: Datemi pace 04:30
• 13 Wert: Il decimo libro de madrigali: Misera, quanto tempo 02:35
• 14 Wert: Il decimo libro de madrigali: Tu canti e canto anch’io 02:15
• 15 Wert: Il decimo libro de madrigali: Non mi conosci tu? 01:48
• Il primo libro delle canzonette villanelle:
• 16 Wert: Il primo libro delle canzonette villanelle: Mi parto, ahi sorte ria / Partisti, ahi dura sorte 07:47
• Total Runtime 59:38

Info for Giaches de Wert: Versi d'Amore

Following three critically acclaimed albums of sacred music, Voces Suaves turns to the most important secular genre of the Renaissance: the madrigal. Their new album for Arcana, Versi d’Amore , is dedicated entirely to the madrigals of Giaches de Wert (1535-1596): rarely performed nowadays, these expressive works are the true forebearers of the madrigals of Claudio Monteverdi, Wert’s younger colleague in Mantua.

Versi d’Amore features a selection of works from Wert’s last three madrigal books: sombre settings of profound sonnets by Petrarch performed a cappella, alongside elegantly playful canzonette performed with an instrumental consort, all of which display Wert’s complete command of polyphonic writing, melodic expressivity and word painting. Most of the pieces are recorded for the first time, giving the listeners an opportunity to discover these true gems of the madrigal repertoire.

Voces Suaves

Voces Suaves
which performs Renaissance and Baroque music with solo voices, is a vocal ensemble based in Basel. Taking into account the insights of historical performance practice, the ensemble strives for captivating rhetoric combined with a warm and full overall sound that makes the music come alive with emotion. By virtue of the intensive collaboration, a great familiarity within the musical work has evolved.

The ensemble, founded in 2012 by Tobias Wicky, is made up of a core of eight professional singers of whom most have a connection with the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. The formation varies depending on the program. Instrumentalists are incorporated when necessary.

The repertoire contains a broad selection of Italian madrigals, works of the Early German Baroque, and larger-scaled Italian oratorios and Masses. In planning the programs, care is taken to include works by forgotten composers, such as Stefano Bernardi, Giaches De Wert and Giovanni Croce, alongside those of well-known masters like Monteverdi or Schütz.

Important performances have taken Voces Suaves to prestigious festivals throughout Europe, including the Festival d’Ambronay, the Festival de Saintes, Les Grands Concerts de Lyon, the Ravenna Festival, the Monteverdi Festival Cremona, the MA Festival, Bozar Brussels, the Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht, the Oslo Internasjonale Kirkemusikkfestival, the Festival Misteria Paschalia Krakow, the Staatsoper Berlin, the Festival Potsdam Sanssouci, and the Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik. In the years 2014–16 the ensemble participated in the European promotion program “eeemerging, Emerging European Ensembles Project.”

Voces Suaves regularly joins together with renowned ensembles such as the Ensemble Concerto Scirocco, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Concerto Romano, Capriccio Stravaganza and the Capricornus Consort. Moreover, Voces Suaves has maintained long-standing collaborations with Michelle Vanelli, Jörg-Andreas Bötticher and Johannes Strobl.

Since 2015 various recordings by Voces Suaves have been released on the claves records, Ambronay éditions, Arcana (Outhere Music), and Deutsche Harmonia Mundi labels, and been honored with international prizes (including the Diapason découverte, Choc de Classica).

Booklet for Giaches de Wert: Versi d'Amore