Una hora non potuistis

Excerpts from 'Responsoria et alia ad Officum Hebdonadae Sanctae spectantia'. What fascinates us so much in this music, 400 years after it was written, is exactly this incedibly naked honesty we hear in it. And what we hear is a desperate and wretched, but also passionate and loving person who is mad about writing music 'further out' than anyone else. Gesualdo's music is in fact so startling that it maintains the element of surprise even on many repeated hearings, much the same way as the music of that other half-mad avant-garde genius, Berlioz.
Penguin Yearbook 3 stars, outstanding. Fono Forum: Outstanding.