Orlando Lassus - Lagrime di San Pietro

Orlando di Lasso’s Lagrime di San Pietro is widely regarded as the composer’s spiritual testament: a cycle of twenty madrigals and a concluding motet for seven voices, in which the apostle Peter gives voice to his denial and repentance, set to poetry by Luigi Tansillo. Lasso, one of the foremost masters of the late Renaissance and active at the court in Munich, brought together in his vast oeuvre the principal European polyphonic traditions into an exceptionally rich and expressive whole. Tansillo’s charged poetry is thus transformed into a profound musical meditation on remorse and grace, in which counterpoint and textual expression are fused with rare intensity.
Performed by Collegium Vocale Gent under the direction of Philippe Herreweghe—who has explored this work in its finest nuances for decades—this music is brought to life with remarkable clarity and inner tension. A timeless sound world in which voice, silence, and emotion meet with compelling force.