GIACOMO CARISSIMI (1605-1674): Jephte, Jonas, Judicium Salomonis.

Description: Alternating simple recitative passages with elevated, highly affective moments (like the ending lament in Jephte which Handel later used in Samson), Carissimi produced emotionally involving works intellectually linked to the contemporary art of rhetoric. These are not rarely recorded works (except for the 11-minute Judicium); we offer this since it is a 13-year-old recording whose members include such now well-known singers as Tessa Bonner and John Mark Ainsley. Gabrieli Consort and Players; Paul McCreesh. Original 1996 Meridian release.