Morten Lauridsen is most noted for his vocal cycles and sacred motets, which are performed extensively throughout the world. He is Professor of Composition at the USC Thornton School of Music in the United States. The Madrigali: Six ‘Fire Songs’ on Italian Renaissance poems were premiered in Los Angeles in 1988.

Each of the six poems in the cycle contains romantic references to fire and the music is unified by manipulations of a sonority called the ‘Fire-Chord’, which opens the piece and is found extensively throughout. Whilst the pieces are contained in a cycle, each piece could be performed individually. Translations of the poems are provided.

Published by Faber Music