Bruckner & Gesualdo: Echoing across the centuries

In the 200th anniversary of Bruckner’s birth, the Monteverdi Choir, in its 60th year, explored the nineteenth-century vision of the past.

16–20 October 2024

Palestrina arr. Wagner Stabat Mater
Bruckner Postlude in D minor, WAB 126
Gesualdo Illumina faciem tuam
Bruckner Christus factus est, WAB 11
Gesualdo Ave dulcissima Maria
Bruckner Ave Maria, WAB 6

interval

Bruckner Prelude & Fugue in C minor, WAB 131
Lotti Crucifixus (a 8)
GesualdoTribulationem et dolorem
Bruckner Os justi, WAB 30
Gesualdo O vos omnes (a 5)
Bruckner Salvum fac populum tuum, WAB 40
Gesualdo Peccantem me quotidie
Bruckner Vexilla regis, WAB 51
Gesualdo Laboravi in gemitu meo
Bruckner Locus iste, WAB 23

Monteverdi Choir

Jonathan Sells Conductor
James Johnstone
Organ

Anton Bruckner was born 200 years ago this year. To hear his choral music with fresh ears, we placed his celebrated a cappella motets together with unlikely bedfellows, above all the sacred motets of Carlo Gesualdo (1566-1613).

Richard Wagner was one of Bruckner’s musical heroes, and in his motets Bruckner manages to distil a hyper-romantic and highly expressive idiom into a compact form which otherwise eluded both of them.

250 years earlier, Gesualdo was experimenting with ear- and mind-bending chromatic expressionism and enharmonic shifts in a remarkably similar way. Both Bruckner and Gesualdo were outsiders, were strongly led by their Catholic faith, and showed signs of mental instability. The tormented passion of their music seems to reach out across the centuries.

“The Monteverdi Choir, led by Jonathan Sells...proves its extraordinary class.”

Leipziger Volkszeitung

Pre-concert talk:

Before the concert at the Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich, music broadcaster, curator, and writer Sara Mohr-Pietsch engaged in conversation with conductor, Jonathan Sells. Together, they delved into Bruckner & Gesualdo – two unlikely bedfellows, musical mavericks 250 years apart.

Related posts:

Meet the MCO musicians: conductor Jonathan Sells

Echoing across the centuries: exploring MCO's October venues


Dates & Booking

Wed 16 October 2024, 7.30pm
Ely Cathedral
Ely, UK

Thur 17 October 2024, 8.00pm
Christ Church Cathedral
Oxford, UK

Sun 20 October 2024, 6.00pm
(Pre-concert talk: 5.00pm)
Old Royal Naval College
Greenwich, UK


Watch & Listen


Concert programme


Reaction

Thank you for the most sublime concert this evening in Ely. It was stunning in every way and I will remember the choir singing ‘locus iste’ for a very long time.

Facebook follower