The Other Face of Carlo Gesualdo

Carlo Gesualdo is synonymous with extreme madrigals, capricious melodies, and frenzied harmonies. But in his motets, the “Prince of Venosa” plays a different card.

The Sacrarum cantionum forms the sonic trail of a quest for stillness, clarity, and order. The ever-powerful Stile Antico presents Gesualdo’s most beautiful five-part Latin songs with unvarnished transparency: each voice is audible separately, while the parts together form an organic sonic tapestry that constantly reveals new timbres and textures.

This rarely performed collection—re-examined for the occasion by the Alamire Foundation—shows a Gesualdo who is not only experimental but also deeply spiritual: a fascinating sonic portrait of one of the most remarkable artistic figures of the period around 1600.