Crowning Gloria
Donald Macleod explores how Palestrina reinvents himself with a new marriage, new trades, and new music of course, but also by joining a collective that celebrates his legacy.
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c.1525-1594) was one of the most influential composers in European classical music. With his countless masses, motets and madrigals, infused with a deep sense of spirituality and musical beauty, Palestrina was named the 'Saviour of Church Music' at a revolutionary time when Rome was rewriting the rules of music composition. But what do we know about this mysterious character, between historical fact and hagiographic myth? Donald Macleod follows the clues, to try and reconstruct the story of a fascinating composer, on the (approximately) 500th anniversary of his birth.
In this fifth episode, Donald Macleod explores how Palestrina reinvents himself with a new marriage, new trades, and new music of course, but also by joining a collective that celebrates his legacy.
Il primo libro di madrigal (First Book of Madrigals)
Sestina. Mai fu piu crud’o spietata morte
Concerto Italiano
Rinaldo Alessandrini, conductor
Ad te levavi
Choir of Clare College, Cambridge
Graham Ross, conductor/harpsichord
Johann Joseph Fux: Gradus ad Parnassum
Fugue
Andreas Staier, harpsichord
Francesco Soriano: Alpha à 6
Lambert Colson, cornett
Bernard Fouccroulle, organ
InAlto
Canticum Canticorum (Song of Solomon)
Osculetur me osculo oris sui
Ensemble Vocal Régional de Champagne-Ardenne
Akademia
Françoise Lasserre, conductor
Missa Memor esto verbi tui a 5
III. Credo
Choir of Clare College, Cambridge
Graham Ross, conductor/organ
Stabile/Soriano/Dragoni/Palestrina/Giovannelli/Santini/Mancini: Missa Cantantibus organis (from the motet Cantantibus Organis by Palestrina)
Sanctus (composed by Curzio Mancini)
Officium Ensemble
Wilfried Rombach, conductor
Sacred Madrigals, Book 2 (Delle madrigali spirituali libro secondo)
E questo spirto
Corvina Consort
Zoltán Kalmanovits, conductor
Libera me Domine
Hilliard Ensemble
Hans Pfitzner: Palestrina
Act III, Scene 3: Nun schmiede mich
Peter Schreier, tenor (Palestrina)
Chorus of the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin
Staatskapelle Berlin
Otmar Suitner, conductor
Ave Maria
The Sixteen
Harry Christophers, conductor
Presenter: Donald Macleod
Producer: Julien Rosa
Production Coordinator: Ellie Phillips
Sound Engineer: TBC
Studio Recording: Susan Thomas
Composer of the Week is a ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Audio Wales & West production for ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Radio 3
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- Fri 20 Jun 2025 16:00ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Radio 3
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