Leonardo García Alarcón
Released in 2011 by Ricercar
Very little is known about the life of composer Giovanni Giorgi and almost nothing about his professional and artistic training. He is likely one of the heirs of the Venetian polychoral tradition, which was passed down by Antonio Lotti (1667-1740), the maestro di cappella of St. Mark’s Basilica. Lotti, in turn, was a pupil of Giovanni Legrenzi (1626-1690), who was also a former music director of the basilica. Indeed, St. Mark’s was an important site for generations of composers who experimented with polychoral music, a style of music that continued to be performed there until the early nineteenth century. If we delve into the history of the genre, it was composer and organist Giovanni Gabrieli (c. 1554/1557-1612) who first brought polychoral music to new heights, placing choral and instrumental groups in different parts of the basilica and having them perform both in unison and in succession. Claudio Monteverdi then took over from Gabrieli. We know surprisingly little about Monteverdi, but there are valuable accounts on his music in the printed works and manuscripts of Giovanni Rovetta (c. 1595/97–1668), Francesco Cavalli (1602-1676), Natale Monferrato (1610-1685), Legrenzi and Lotti, as well as later accounts by Baldassarre Galuppi (1706-1785) and Ferdinando Bertoni (1725-1813). Giorgi’s music is closer to Lotti’s Venetian style than the Roman style, with its liturgical bent, peaceful fluidity and euphony. Although he also employs chromatic devices, vague dissonances and modulation, his use of these elements is always scrupulous and measured. Giorgi was very skilled at counterpoint, but unlike some of his contemporaries, he never gave in to the temptation of flaunting his erudition or technique.
