Federico Del Sordo

Corradini & Vendi: 12 Ricercari & Canzoni Federico Del Sordo

Nicolò Corradini was born in the late 16th century, and died in 1646. He spent most of his life in Cremona, the city where he was most likely born. Corradini received

his early musical education from fellow Cremonese citizen Giovanni Battista Morsellino. In 1611 he was appointed organist of the Church of San Pietro in Cremona, and that same year he was also asked to accompany the Litanies of the Virgin, which were traditionally performed at Cremona Cathedral every Saturday and on all feast days dedicated to the Virgin Mary. In 1635 he took up the role of organist at the cathedral. Corradini's works include a book of Madrigali a 5 et a 8

voci con Sinfonie di Viole (published in Venice in 1620).

This new recording presents Corradini's ricercars - which cover the full range of twelve church modes. They are based on multiple themes (called fughe, or fuguesl,

a technique also employed, for example, in Giovanni Maria Trabaci's Ricercate) and containing a number of themes, varying from 2 to 5. The polythematism found in

these grandiose musical paintings keeps the listener entertained with a varying ethos that, while clearly structured around the architecture of the 16th-century choral motet, in some passages surpasses the limits beyond which many other composers did not stray until the early 17th century.

Also included in this recording are the canzoni written by Mattia Vendi, a musician, probably from Italy, whose life definitely bridged the 16th and 17th centuries. Two instruments were used in the recordings: the organ built by Graziadio Antegnati (1565) in the Basilica Palatina di Santa Barbara in Mantua, and the copy of a 17th-century harpsichord built by Tony Chinnery in 2009 and housed in the Sala Accademica at the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music in Rome.