Giovanni Paolo Colonna - Mass in E minor

A major composer in Italy at the end of the 17th century, Giovanni Paolo Colonna was appreciated and solicited by the greatests, going so far as to refuse an offer of Pope Innocent XII to become choirmaster of St. Peter's Basilica at the end of his life.

Composing most of his works for the church, Colonna's style is majestic, with changes in style and taste characteristic of that time while church music was in a transition, and had yet to learn how to combine the gravity of the old style with the brilliance of the new.

This Mass in E minor is no exception to the rule and the interpretation of the Chamber Choir of Namur and the Cappella Mediterranea conducted by Leonardo García Alarcón, can only plunge us fully into this spectacular atmosphere of the beginnings of the Baroque era in Italy.