Profeti della Quinta - Salomone Rossi: Il Mantovano Hebreo - Early Music Today

Having previously recorded the settings by Rossi - composer at the Gonzaga court in Mantua, and famous enough in

his time to have earned the epithet in the album title - of texts from the Song of Solomon, the all-male vocal ensemble Profeti della Quinta now presents a more general overview of his output on its first disc with Linn (part of the reward for winning the 2011 York Early Music International Young Artists Competition). What pleases most is the variety of vocal colours the ensemble finds: one's revellìng in the smooth sheen of its homophonic sound - most marvellous in the Hebrew-language psalms - stands in stark contrast to the vigour of the lower voices in two-part madrigaletti. An exotic selection of instrumental sinfonias, sonatas and dances - all marvellously performed by the small ensemble provides further evidence of both the quality and the variety of Rossi's music.