Les Sacqueboutiers - Gabrieli: Venise sur Garonne (2014) [Hi-Res]

During the 16th century, in San Marco, Venice, two organs faced each other in the loft surrounding the choir. Both organist positions were occupied by famous musiciens such as Giovanni Gabrieli, pupil of his uncle Andréa, and Gioseffo Guami, a pupil of Adrian Willaert.

The location of these instruments allowed these musicians to compose pieces for several groups of voices which were still called 'choirs'. The part played by these 'choirs' became more important, and finally the composition of purely instrumental music resulted in the conception of magnificent 'Canzoni' whose style was progressively exported to the whole of 17th century Europe.

The programme 'Venise sur Garonne' (Venice on the Garonne river) gathers the most prominent pieces of work mostly devoted to cornetti and sackbuts and specially the 'Canzoni' requiring the largest number of instruments, up to 22 distinct voices distributed among 5 different choirs. This form of composition, highly appreciated during the baroque period, progressively disappeared with the emergence of the symphony orchestra.

Thanks to the magnificence of this Venetian repertoire, so representative of ancient brass instruments Les Sacqueboutiers naturally chose to pay tribute to the great polyphonist of this period, Giovanni Gabrieli.