BREMF – Galileo – The Marian Consort and Monteverdi String Band

With elegant incidental music and selections from impassioned madrigals and motets, these excellent artists generated an authentic sound world to accompany Clare Norburn’s drama of the dying Galileo (Roger Watkins). The Marian Consort gamely portrayed his kin and Inquisitorial stooges while the finely-tuned chromaticism of their singing echoed his distress and frustrations. At the heart of this performance were David Miller and Alex McCartney playing exquisite lute works composed by Galileo’s own family and friends. Galileo may have played these himself, their rhythmic complexity and focus perhaps illustrating his precise, enquiring mind and keenly exploring the depths of musical emotion.

St Paul’s Church, 30 October 2016

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