InAlto - Merula: Concerti Spirituali [CD]

Tarquinio Merula belonged to a generation of Italian composers, all of whom were born around 1600, for whom the concertante style was no longer a new idiom but a preferred musical medium, one that had been acquired in childhood and which had become not only the dominant musical language of the time but which was also to spread across the whole of Europe. Tarquinio Merula was renowned as a violin and organ virtuoso and published a wide variety of instrumental music per la chiesa e la camera. Here Inalto explores Merula's sacred works, including the famous lullaby Hor che e tempo di dormire. His works may seem simple at times, but are impressively innovative; whilst sacred in character, they are rooted in human emotion.