Vanitas Vanitatum

Released in 2006 on the Cypres label, this recording of Giacomo Carissimi’s oratorios serves as a representative entry in the late 20th and early 21st-century movement to restore the aesthetic nuances of 17th-century Italian sacred music. Carissimi is historically credited with being a primary developer of the oratorio form, utilizing dramatic vocal interplay and basso continuo to express the transient nature of worldly existence, a theme reflected in the title Vanitas Vanitatum.

The album features the Choeur de Chambre de Namur and Ensemble La Fenice under the direction of Jean Tubéry. The production was intended to emphasize the rhetorical power and affective storytelling of the Baroque style. Upon its release, the recording was recognized by early music specialists for its meticulous attention to historical performance practice, particularly in its balance between the vocal soloists and the instrumental textures characteristic of the Roman Baroque period.