Coviello Classics' Carissimi: Oratorios features the very capable period ensemble Lautten Compagney under Wolfgang Katschner with a fine chorus, Capella Angelica, in a mixed program of early oratorios by the "father of the oratorio," Giacomo Carissimi. Although these works historically belong to the early Baroque period, they are heavily influenced by the examples of Palestrina and the Gabrieli brothers. Apart from a few, thankless string parts barely audible in this live recording, apparently made at the Handel Festival in ...
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Coviello Classics' Carissimi: Oratorios features the very capable period ensemble Lautten Compagney under Wolfgang Katschner with a fine chorus, Capella Angelica, in a mixed program of early oratorios by the "father of the oratorio," Giacomo Carissimi. Although these works historically belong to the early Baroque period, they are heavily influenced by the examples of Palestrina and the Gabrieli brothers. Apart from a few, thankless string parts barely audible in this live recording, apparently made at the Handel Festival in Halle, these works could pass for music written a full century earlier. Moreover, while there are isolated moments of glory scattered throughout the first three oratorios on the disc, long stretches of the music seem rather workmanlike and routine, even as the performers acquit themselves admirably in all of it. The sound is generally quite good on this hybrid multichannel SACD, but it favors certain instruments over others, and even soloists, in certain cases, aren't heard clearly,...
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