Christo smarrito col lamento della Beata Vergine

With their sixth album on the Arcana label, Voces Suaves present a programme devoted to one of the most influential composers of the 17th century: the great Giacomo Carissimi. Carissimi's most famous work, the masterful oratorio Jephte, takes centre stage, supplemented by two of his rarely performed virtuosic motets. There is also the remarkably theatrical Cristo smarrito by Domenico Mazzocchi, Carissimi's Roman contemporary. The works on this recording demonstrate in an impressive way the expressive power of Carissimi's musical language and the extraordinary virtuosity of the singers for whom his music was originally intended. Carissimi's instrumental interludes - preserved in the collection of his pupil Marc-Antoine Charpentier - have been inserted into the score of Jephte, creating a unique version of the oratorio as it might have sounded in Rome during Carissimi's lifetime.