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Adriano 4

Adriano 4

Dionysos Now

Cat No:

EPRC 0051

Release date:

2/3/23

Barcode:

0608917724127

Dionysos Now! releases their fourth album “Adriano 4” in the Adriaen Willaert Series. This release focuses on the world premiere recording of Willaert’s St John Passion, composed around 1545, followed by Easter motets.

The cover artwork of Adriano 4 is a photo by renowned photographer Stephan Vanfleteren. The cd and vinyl design are also composed with more pictures by Vanfleteren, which results in a very unique piece of art.

*****
Adriaen Willaert’s little-known St John Passion is his only surviving setting of the Passion of Christ. This recording proves that a compositional innovation took place in the Renaissance that aimed to make the recitation of the Passion on Good Friday (which was then traditionally sung in unison, Gregorian chant) more musically interesting. The passion is composed in an innovatively polyphonic, but homo-rhythmical manner: every voice sings the same text at the same time. This way, the text remains very intelligible, and the listener is captivated by the way the story is presented."

All the “roles” that appear in his St John Passion are set in a polyphonic manner. The part of the Evangelist is worked out in four voices; Jesus in three voices; Pilatus, Ancilla, and Petrus in two voices; and the crowd (turba) in six voices. After the death of A. Willaert, this work has probably never been performed in its original form, as can be found in the part books (manuscripts, not printed).

Discover the Adriaen Willaert Series

Adriano 4 is available worldwide as a digipack CD & will be available as a double, black vinyl, gatefold LP on March 17th in Benelux only. 

This production is supported by The National Lottery Belgium.

Tracklist

1. Passio Domini nostri Jesu Christi secundum Joannem
2. Tristis est anima mea
3. Ecce lignum crucis - Crux fidelis
4. Da pacem Domine

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Reviews

Millennium of Music

"Tore Tom Denys: Adriaen Willaert’s little-known St John Passion is his only surviving setting of the Passion of Christ. With this recording, I want to prove that a compositional innovation took place in the Renaissance that aimed to make the recitation of the Passion on Good Friday (which was then traditionally sung in unison, Gregorian chant) more musically interesting."

Diapason

"Enregistrée par le Huelgas Ensemble (DHM) quand elle était attribuée à Cipriano de Rore, cette Passio secundum Joannem serait d’Adrian Willaert. S’appuyant sur un manuscrit de Bologne renfermant trois autres œuvres de Willaert, les sept voix masculines de Dionysos Now! (un contre-ténor, trois ténors, un baryton et trois basses) s’épanouissent dans une acoustique un rien réverbérée. Leur large palette de couleurs et de dynamiques rehausse une partition d’un abord plutôt austère. Les rôles sont polyphoniques : quatre voix pour l’Evangéliste, trois pour Jésus, deux pour Pilate ou six pour la foule. Premier CD réussi pour cet ensemble basé à Vienne."

Classic Voice

"L’ensemble cura molto la dimensione timbrica, andando alla ricerca di una qualche varietà nell’ascolto, e palesa una concezione corretta della prosodia."

RITMO

"One can appreciate both the experience and musical expertise of the group and the compositional talent of Willaert, which is unquestionable."

Sonograma

"Tore Tom Denys, amb els músics del Dionysos Now!, ens revela un art sublim interpretat per veus nítides, delicades i encisadores, que brillen en la grisor de la passió. Tot un món bategant que marca amb accents la polifonia que canalitza la bellesa de la música."

Scherzo

"Toda la polifonía está interpretada con tanta intensidad y emoción como delicadeza, con esa maravillosa resonancia y conjunción de esta escuela interpretativa. No se puede sacar mayor partido a esta hermosa música, tratada como una obra de orfebrería"

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