Singing Into Space

GIOVANNI GABRIELI, GIOVANNI BONATO
© & ℗ 2025 Toccata Classics

Estonian National Male Choir
Conductor Mikk Üleoja

The two composers featured on this album, Giovanni Gabrieli (1553–1612) and Giovanni Bonato (born 1961), share more than their first names. Both hail from the Veneto region of north-east Italy. Although there is no definitive documentation of Gabrieli’s birth, he was most likely born in Venice, while Bonato was born in nearby Schio. Their music is similarly conceived with a strong awareness of sound in space. At St Mark’s Basilica, Gabrieli developed the celebrated cori spezzati technique, positioning choirs in opposing galleries to create antiphonal dialogue across the vast interior. Bonato, by contrast, employs cori spazializzati, integrating spatial design directly into the fabric of the music itself. Placed side by side, their works create a compelling dialogue across centuries: Gabrieli’s bold, ceremonial declamations stand in vivid contrast to Bonato’s fluid textures and suspended, timeless sonorities.