Viadana: Officium defunctorum - Missa pro defunctis

VIADANA Officium defunctorum. Missa pro defunctis • Giovanni Battista Columbro, cond; Capella Musicale di Viadana; Vocale Consortium • TACTUS 562201 (69:35 Text and Translation) Ludovico Grossi da Viadana (c. 1560–1627) is surnamed, like Palestrina, from his place of birth, while Giovanni Moro da Viadana may be found under M (according to The New Grove , although record catalogs differ). Until now I had no full disc of his music, though several can be found in Italian catalogs, including a solemn Requiem on Stradivarius back in 1995 that may be the same as this music, since both works are dated 1604. We are told by the conductor, who wrote the notes, that he “is nowadays considered to be one of the greatest composers of all times,” though little of detail is known about his life. He was a Franciscan friar who served as maestro at cathedrals in Mantua (from 1594 to 1609) and several other cities. He is called “the inventor of the basso continuo ,” but that notion, which