Electronic Sacred Music. Composer Marco Rosano pushes the limits once again.
Composer Marco Rosano returns with an electronic baroque collection of sacred pieces. It has just been released on May 24, 2024.
The new album. Find it where you stream music.
I have long loved this contemporary composer’s take on baroque sacred music. His Stabat Mater, O Quam Tristis and Requiem have been on my playlists for a while now. (It took me a good part of that while to figure out that these pieces were modern and not very idiosyncratic pieces from 300 years ago.) Now he has reworked this music in an electronic environment, and the results are wonderfully original and provocative.
The renowned countertenor, Andreas Scholl is the featured artist. In fact, I presume that these tracks have not been re-recorded with the singers, (Nabila Trindade, mezzo soprano, is also featured on O Quam Tristis), given that the tradition of “remixes” would not call for this. Andreas’ pure, flawless alto voice is a joy to the ear, exemplifying what is unique in the sound of countertenor singing, its corporal, smooth consistency, which more than compensates for any of the limitations of this voice. Rosano knows how to showcase Scholl’s voice with long passages of a cappella singing that establish the context of many of the songs.
Marco Rosano (l.), Andreas Scholl (r.)
Spotify will often mix the songs without regard to album order. I would avoid this here, as the build up of electronica in the original album sequence feels very natural. The first selection, O Quam Tristis begins with a single sonority that sets the mood. Baroque music has always been open to innovation, and here we can imagine what the music would sound like if a Moog Synthesizer were a Baroque instrument. Yes, that sounds terrible, but it is done with such simplicity and grace that it works beautifully. The clear, pure contralto of Andreas Scholl begins and is soon buoyed by the arrival of Nabila Trinidade in a masterful display of Baroque counterpoint and a percussive line that serves as a heartbeat continuo. It is all so finely wrought that you are thus open to whatever comes next. What does come next is Virgo Virginum, beginning with Scholl’s unadorned voice which soon finds itself surrounded by bubbling echoes of itself that bounce from earphone to earphone over a synthesizer basso continuo, a reminder of the history of electronic music and specifically of the great Luciano Berio. Everything is done with such subtlety and skill that afterwards you are left with nothing but the heavenly sound of Andreas Scholl’s agile, reedy voice, like a flesh and blood oboe, streaming effortlessly through your head.
Perhaps you will prefer the earlier non-electronic versions of many of these pieces. No worries, you will easily find these on Spotify or elsewhere. I must admit that I hesitated to listen to the electronic Requiem, knowing that I am already in awe of the unadorned earlier version of Requiem. I think the bareness expresses the solemnity of this work beautifully. However, I was quickly convinced that the light touch of electronica in this new remix is entirely respectful of that weighty text. Whether you like electronic music or not, this album will have surprises that may very well delight the listener who craves innovation and a continuing creativity in classical music. One of the more actively electronicized pieces is Fac Me Plagis, which I consider one of the most successful remixes on this album. Another piece, Fac Ut Portem, features a percussion track, which is very welcome to my ears. I have long wanted to hear more drums in modern operatic music. And more melodic lines, what’s with all the recitative, anyway? But I digress ….
I have added several of these remixes to FP’s “Hackers Baroque” playlist on Spotify. This playlist includes many pieces that have been reworked in some way to touch the musical soul of modern 21st Century ears. It includes many pieces performed by Christina Pluhar, with modern-tweaked orchestrations, and other unusual gems, like an Arabic language version of Bach’s Erbarme Dich by Sarband. Ferrandina Press has a large number of playlists, which are always in various stages of development. So while you are there, take a look around. To go to the Hackers Baroque Playlist, CLICK HERE.
