Search - Claudio Monteverdi, Marco Longhini, Delitiae Musicae :: Monteverdi: Madrigals, Book 7

Masterful Performances of Masterpieces

Christopher A. Fulkerson | San Francisco | 06/22/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"How about a sweeping, positive generalization: this is possibly one of the greatest collections of the recorded legacy of all time, I mean it. Run, don't walk, your cursor to the "buy this item" icon. If you have any fondness for Monteverdi or madrigals in general, you will quickly find this is a fantastic treasure. The musicological reconstructions are convincing. The sense of deployment of accompaniment is perfect. The singing is superb. There are fewer "top 40" type pieces here than in, say, Monteverdi's Sixth Book, but this is irrefutably some of the greatest music anybody ever wrote, and some pieces, such as "Interrotte speranze," which is for fire what "Ohime il bel viso" of the sixth book is for air, are astonishing. At this price, the whole set is worth that one madrigal, it is so hauntingly and dramatically rendered. Some pieces are amazingly forward-looking, even when sweet: "Augellin" is a beautiful example of the madrigal in its transition to the cantata aria, a development made quite clear by this IMPORTANT collection. There is a sense of the literature in the way the poems are sung; all Italians are complimented by the singing here, which is unutterably noble. You will not regret listening to these hours of genius, so eloquently sung. Buy this immediately, and begin savoring it, it's REALLY good."