Music for van Dyck Chansons and Madrigals from the 16th and the 20th c.

To dedicate a musical offering to the baroque artist Anthony van Dyck is to celebrate and honor all that was represented by the Flemish Renaissance, which came just before. This 16th Century response to the Italian Renaissance was an artistic movement of the greatest importance for the region. It would not only partially borrow the simplicity and elegance of Italian artistic technique, but would furthermore inject typically Flemish and Dutch flavors, as well pave the way towards the baroque period through the development of artistic techniques: landscapes, still-lifes and genre painting were all off-springs of this mid-16th Century period in fine art.

Best known for his extraordinarly popular film scores, Italian composer Ennio Morricone (b.1928) has proven through this genre a special ability to encompass 5 numerous musical styles whilst still airing great individuality. Flash I is a short piece for unaccompanied voices which conjurs the ghost of the madrigal style and fascinates the listener with contemporary rhythms and harmonies sometimes reminiscent of the jazz world.

The Morricone works, as well as those by Matteo D’Amico (b.1955), Raymond Schroyens (b.1933), Riccardo Dapelo (b.1962), Raoul de Smet (b.1936), Federico Ermirio (b.1950) and Andrea Basevi Gambarana (b.1957) are all recorded here for the first time.