The 'Responsoria' by Carlo Gesualdo, published in 1611, represent a remarkable emotional outpouring in sacred repertory from a composer who was living out his final years amidst melancholic thoughts and an increasingly precarious state of health. It was also significant that these pieces for Holy Week should appear in the same year as the complex Sixth Book of Madrigals - an association which La Compagnia del Madrigale are keen to emphasise in this striking new recording for Glossa.

Having already wowed the critics with the madrigals, La Compagnia, which includes singers of the calibre and experience of Giuseppe Maletto, Daniele Carnovich and Rossana Bertini, turns its attention to subject matter covering torment, suffering, blood and death.

Over 3 CDs Gesualdo’s creative musical response to the Passion of Christ is interspersed with spiritual madrigals from some of his best-known contemporaries: Luzzaschi, Marenzio, de Macque and Vinci, whose religious texts further underline the madrigalesque nature of the Responsoria.

Also included are two comparative rarities from Gesualdo’s sacred output, 'In te Domine speravi' and 'Ne reminiscaris, Domine'.