Description

Opening simply with a solo voice, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ Italian settings of eight poems by Renaissance artist Michelangelo for baritone and piano take both the performers and audience on a striking journey through Michelangelo’s tortured and knotty Tuscan poetry. The piano is introduced in the second of the eight settings punctuating the vocal part with a variety of different textures from bell-like figuration to turbulent virtuosity.

Contents

1. To be performed continuously, without any break between songs. I Qui chiuso è’l sol
2. II Mentre c’alla beltà
3. III Come può esser
4. IV La carne terra
5. V Colui che’l tutto fe’
6. VI Ben sarien dolce le preghiere mie
7. VII Se’l duo fa pur
8. VIII Caro m’e ‘l sonno