The Vanity Of Man

A fine recording from the Italian baroque, Vanitas Vanitatum by Giacomo Carissimi, perfromed by La Fenice with the Choeur de Chambre de Namur directed by cornet player Jean Tubery. Carissimi's work marked an early move into including recitative in religious settings. Vanitas Vanitatum is half oratorio, half motet with alternating solo and chorus parts supported by two violins. The texts consider the fragility and vanity of human existence and encourage the contemplation of the folly of too much of the latter. The disk also contains two other works with fuller instrumental accompaniment including organ, cimbalo and cornet. The secular cantata Sciolto Havean Dall'alte Sponde depicts two lovers on a storm tossed shore which acts as a metaphor for the turbulence of love. The final work is a setting of the mass, which has a similar name to the cantata and re-uses certain of the material in reworkings. An influential musician in his time, Carissimi was well known in France and it is interesting to have a Franco-Italian take on his work from these performers.