DCD34260-CD

Adriatic Voyage: Seventeenth-century music from Venice to Dalmatia

In March 1575, a party led by the Venetian diplomat Giacomo Soranzo set out on a mission to Constantinople. They sailed down the Istrian coast, along the length of present-day Croatia, and on to the Bay of Kotor. Much of the land they passed was the territory of the Serenissima – inhabited by both Italians and Slavs, and of strategic importance since it was exposed to constant Turkish threats from the Balkan hinterland.

Two of Delphian’s most admired ensembles join forces for this imaginative programme of sacred and secular music by composers working along the Dalmatian coast in the decades after Soranzo’s expedition. It was a time in which constant movement of people and trade of goods created linguistic and cultural cross-currents, in contrast to the sharp distinctions encouraged in later centuries by the emergence of modern nation states. Much of this music would have been regarded as Venetian, but the journey points up intriguing differences between the composers and pieces presented, many of them in premiere recordings, while violinist and director Bojan Čičić’s interactions with cornettist Gawain Glenton – and the rich ornamentation contributed by all the musicians here – bring the period back to vivid, unforgettable life.

"a constant movements of goods, people & arts in 16th-century Dalmatia, creating the cultural cross-currents so beautifully realised here by The Marian Consort and Bojan Čičić's Illyria Consort"

ANDREW McGREGOR - RECORD REVIEW

"Throughout, singers and instrumentalists breathe and communicate as one, their rapport unbreakable. A recording, in short, packed with fresh discoveries at every turn; and a vivid snapshot of ‘La Serenissima’s ear-expanding outreach throughout its wider domains"

"A cornucopia of sacred and secular instrumental and vocal music, performed with arresting, period-evocative beauty, which highlights not just what a fascinating period this was for Italian-Slav cross-cultural blending but also how little most of us know about it"

"There are many things to love about this collaboration between the Marians and Čičić's Illyria Consort, not least the way that ornate contributions from the solo violin and cornet weave organically into the already rich tapestry created by the singers (who impress jointly and severally throughout); the repertoire, too, is enormously attractive"

Release Date: 24 September May 2021
Catalogue No: DCD34260
Total playing time: 1:06:00

Recorded on 22-24 September 2020 in the Chapel of Merton College, Oxford
Producer/Engineer: Paul Baxter
24-bit digital editing: Matthew Swan
24-bit digital mastering: Paul Baxter
Design: John Christ
Booklet editor: Henry Howard
Cover image: Austin Neill/unsplash.com
Session photography: foxbrushfilms.com
Singing In Secret: Clandestine Catholic Music by William Byrd CD Delphian Records

PREVIEW

Vinko Jelić(1596 - c. 1635): Bone Jesu

WATCH

The Marian Consort join The Illyria Consort led by Bojan Čičićto record Adriatic Voyage.in the beautiful Chapel of Merton College Oxford.

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