Search - Claudio Monteverdi, Claudio Cavina, Francesca Cassinari :: Monteverdi: Libri dei Madrigali, Books 1 & 9

After the Storm...

Giordano Bruno | Wherever I am, I am. | 09/10/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"...of agitated emotions in La Venexiana's stunning recording of Monteverdi's Eighth Book of Madrigals, this CD of "first and last" has the sweetness of crocuses and songbirds -- the great Claudio enchanting us again with nymphs and shepherds, proving that he can capture joy in music as deftly as despair.



Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) published his Primo Libro di Madrigali when he was nineteen years old, but it was already his third publication, predated by his Madrigali Spirituali and Canzonette, some portions of which he'd composed before age fifteen. The Primo Libro is a collection of 21 five-voice unaccompanied polyphonic madrigals using by all the fashionable love-poets of the era. In keeping with madrigal convention, there are cryptic references both to his idealized "Camilla" and to his flattered patron, Duke Marco Verita. Much is conventional in the musical language also, as the young composer obviously intended to demonstrate his mastery of the genre. These madrigals are tiny masterpieces of polyphony; the longest is less than three minutes of sheer compositional virtuosity. La Venexiana has artfully strung them together with almost inaudible "seams" so that the whole is more complex and captivating than the bits, linking 21 gems into a dazzling necklace. Countertenor Claudio Cavina, the director of La Venexiana, has gathered an ensemble of voices that blend impeccably. Cavina seems to be the keystone of this blend of women's and men's voices, leading selflessly from the middle, the alto voice.



The Nono Libro di Madrigali of 1651 is a charming imposter. Monteverdi didn't assemble it; eight years after his death, his publisher Alessandro Vincenti bundled pieces from earlier collections with unpublished pieces in his private possession, obviously with hopes of raking in some profits from Monteverdi's continuing popularity. In fact, fewer than half of the pieces in the Nono Libro are madrigals in any sense. Most are canzonette, a lighter, more rhythmically regular and dance-like genre of which Monteverdi was equally the gold-medal master. The several madrigals that Vincenti reprinted from Monteverdi's Ottavo Libro are not performed on this CD, being already included in the complete recording of the Ottavo by La Venexiana. Thus the Nono Libro as performed on this CD is all pure frolic.



The canzonetta genre provides more sonic space for instrumental independence. La Venexiana gives us some spectacular strumming and plucking sounds - theorbo, harp, and harpsichord - flitting around the lush voices of the Nono Libro songs. The tenor duet "Zefiro Torna" is surely the summit of Monteverdi's art, a magical evocation of springtime and the return of joy."