Paradiso Armonico

Italian Chamber Music in the Low Countries c. 1650 More Maiorum cherrypicked instrumental and some vocal pieces for an anthology devoted to the vital and multicoloured Italophile musical life in the Netherlands. From the 1630s onwards Italian composers gradually gained popularity in the Low Countries. Local composers were influenced by the more modern Italian compositions and (amateur) performers enjoyed the impressive growth of publications. The title of the cd, Paradiso Armonico, refers to all the variants of ´Paradise´ used as a metaphor in titles of collections of vocal and instrumental music published in the Low Countries in the early 17th century. Such works include Phalèse’s Paradiso musicale (Antwerp 1596), Nicolas Vallet’s Paradisus musicus testudinis (Amsterdam 1618) and Matthysz´ Der Gooden Fluythemel (Amsterdam, 1644). More Maiorum began as an initiative taken by several students from the Koninklijk Conservatorium and the Rijksuniversiteit in Ghent who pursue the stylistically correct performance of Baroque music on period instruments. Their repertoire comprises chamber music for three to six performers composed between 1560 and 1740. Constanze Backes works frequently with such eminent conductors as Paul McCreesh, Hermann Max, René Jacobs and John Eliot Gardiner; ensembles in which she has taken part include the Gesualdo Consort, the Gabriele Consort and the Monteverdi Choir. The members of More Maiorum play on period instruments