Benevolo Missa Si Deus Pro Nobis / Magnificat

Description

Hervé Niquet is characterized by two unchanging traits: he is an indefatigable explorer of forgotten music, and he loves polyphony and “large-scale forms.” A few years ago, he caused a sensation by bringing to light Striggio’s monumental music… For the 30th anniversary of his ensemble, Le Concert Spirituel, he takes on a new summit of polyphony: a Mass by Orazio Benevolo (1605-1672) performed by 8 choirs in 4 parts, accompanied by fifteen continuo players. In concert, the choirs are arranged throughout the nave, with the audience in the middle. The son of a Burgundian pastry chef who emigrated to Rome, and a member of the Maîtrise de Saint-Louis des Français, Benevolo was one of the greatest geniuses of polychorality, a prolific composer representing the splendor of French art in Rome. He ended his career as chapel master at the Vatican. This music has been brought back to life thanks to the work of the great musicologist Jean Lionnet, who spent years hand-copying the works of many Italian composers from the Vatican Music Collection, from which no document could be removed. Thus the Missa Si Deus pro nobis is restored to us here, accompanied by vocal and instrumental pieces by Monteverdi, Frescobaldi and Palestrina.