Nicholas Kenyon 

Pisano, Arcadelt, Marsh: Il Cor Tristo – review

The Hilliards come up with another ingenious collection of works on their latest disc, writes Nicholas Kenyon
  
  


Like a whole group of early music ensembles, the Hilliards were founded 40 years ago in 1973, and have flourished since with some changes in their four-man team: this typically ingenious celebration brings together two Renaissance composers – one little-known (Bernardo Pisano) and one better known (Jacques Arcadelt), both setting poems by Petrarch – with the contemporary British composer Roger Marsh. He sets large tracts of Dante in an imaginative recitative-led style that demands close reading of the texts, while the flowing, harmonious lines of Arcadelt provide perfect contrast. There is some bloom missing now from the sound, but the Hilliard's performances are as skilfully moulded as ever.

 

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