Music for San Rocco
The polychoral and antiphonal works of Giovanni Gabrieli sound best  performed in the acoustics for which they were conceived, such as the Scuola  Grande di San Rocco in Venice, where this splendid collection was recorded.  Whether in extroverted pieces like the Sonatas 18 and 20, or the introspective  and harmonically richDomine, Deus meus, the sounds that resonate  between the notes are crucial to this composer's expression. Time and again  one's ears perk up at Gabrieli's genius for blending the most unlikely sonorities  imaginable, such as six low voices and six sackbuts (early relatives of the  trombone) in the extraordinarySuscipe clementissime. Although Gabrieli  may have been the first "spatial" composer, or perhaps the first  sound designer, he never indulges in fanciful effects for their own sake. The  sonics manage to convey the music's spatial requirements without sacrificing  clarity.--Jed Distler