GESUALDO: MADRIGALI

Following the acclaim which met their 2-CD set devoted to the first two books of Gesualdo s madrigals (2020 Gramophone Award) Paul Agnew and Les Arts Florissants now focus on the composer s Ferrara period. Books III and IV mark a turning point in Gesualdo s output. The murderous prince s inner demons seem to be reflected in the heightened expressiveness of these madrigals whose reliance on chromaticism and dissonance was so far ahead of it s time that it s like would not be heard again until centuries later.