Michelangelo Rossi lived from 1601 till 1656, and held during his life several important posts as court composer and musician (Rome, Modena).
Rossi’s “Toccate e correnti d’intavolaturad’organo e cimbalo” is his only published work, an important opus in the Italian keyboard tradition of Frescobaldi and others. In his work Rossi was influenced by the great madrigal composers Sigismondod’India and notably Gesualdo. The latter’s style may be traced in Rossi’s unexpected harmonic turns, expressive chromatism and abrupt changes of texture and mood. Riccardo Castagnetti, a noted scholar and musician, plays on the 1565 Antegnati organ of the Basilica of Santa Barbara in Mantua, and on a Vanini harpsichord, a copy after a Grimaldi of 1697.
World premiere!
