Gloria in excelsis Deo, Alleluia. Today Christ is born. Today the angels sing on earth. Today archangels rejoice. In Marenzio's hands, the madrigal reached its culmination as a musical form in the 1580s.
Contrapuntal skill is combined with exacting attention to textual expression.
O che lieta novella, perce pargeggi ormai la terra e'l cielo Vergine Donna a Dio di se f velo. A Virgin Lady has concealed God within herself. Drawn to mystic and religious subjects, the composer evinces a highly individual style derived from such wide-ranging influences as the music of Olivier Messiaen and chants of the Russian Orthodox Church, of which he became a member in 1978. The effect is one of both tenderness and transcendence. Little Lamb, I'll tell thee, Little Lamb, I'll tell thee.