G.P. da PALESTRINA (c.1525-94):
Tu es Petrus a6

ORAZIO BENEVOLI (1605-72):
Missa Tu es Petrus (for Four Choirs)

BONIFAZIO GRAZIANI (1604/5–64):
Four Motets from Op. 1:
Domine, ne in furore tuo
Venite gentes
Ad mensam dulcissimi
Justus ut palma

I Fagiolini explore the dazzling multi-choir soundworld of Orazio Benevoli - a crucial figure in 17th-century Italian music. As maestro of the papal choir and providing four-choir masses for special occasions, Benevoli invigorated the multi-choir style with vocal lines full of cross-rhythms, and voluptuous tutti sections with unexpected dissonances. Despite its beauty and historical importance, there have been few attempts to record Benevoli’s music. His Missa Tu es Petrus - recorded here for the first time - was based on Palestrina's famous motet and perhaps written for the newly finished basilica of St Peter in Rome. It appears alongside four delightful solo-voice motets by his contemporary Bonifazio Graziani, each of them premiere recordings.

Robert Hollingworth writes: “The 17th century is surely the most interesting musical period to go rooting around in. While the 16th and 18th centuries are generally more stylistically uniform, in the mid-17th century you never know what you’re going to find. Yet digging up another ‘undiscovered masterpiece’ does require quality control. Some music is much better left in libraries, falling out of use for very good reason; Orazio Benevoli’s Missa Tu es Petrus is quite spectacularly not one of those pieces.”