Search - Sigismondo d'India :: Sigismondo D'India: First Book of Madrigals

After Centuries of Oblivion...

Giordano Bruno | Wherever I am, I am. | 09/27/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"... the transcendent greatness of the Italian madrigalists who bridged the chasm between the Renaissance and the Baroque, and who thus were uniquely able to blend the wonders of both, has been revealed by the performances of musicians who have devoted themselves to developing the skills to do the music justice. Claudio Monteverdi, of course, has been the pivot upon which the whole performance movement has turned, but the "success" of Monteverdi with modern listeners has opened our ears to others of his contemporaries, Sigismondo d'India among them.



D'India's surviving works are contained in eight books of 5-voice madrigals and five books of dramatic monodies for one or two voices with continuo, all published between 1606 and 1624. D'India was a singer of great fame, and surely most of his music was performed first by him and his colleagues. There is a suspicion among musicologists that he also wrote at least one opera, but if so, it is lost.



What La Venexiana brings to this recording of d'India's entire First Book of 5-part madrigals is a flawness blend of five gorgeous voices. The same lush timbres that have made their recordings of the madrigals of Monteverdi such a supreme monument also make this recording a listening experience beyond any criticism. [For my home state readers, what I mean to say is "they sing awful good."] Possibly the group intends or intended a complete set of recordings of all eight d'India books, but for the moment only Book One is available, and Book Three is listed on ammy as 'discontinued'. Ohime!



If you are thoroughly unacquainted with d'India and the extremely passionate style of his writing, I'd suggest that the recording by William Christie and Les Arts Florissants might better introduce you to his striking genius, since it includes selections from all of his publications. My guess, however, is that if you already have a cultivated taste for Monteverdi, you'll end up buying this CD as soon as you've heard Christie's. So perhaps you'd better buy it pronto, before it too is discontinued.



If you've never heard any of this stuff, here's what to expect: lush voices singing with theatrical passion about love, often tragically unconsummated. The harmonies employed by composers of this ear are quite shocking - ripe dissonances that were never heard before 1550 and never heard agin after 1650 until the 20th Century. Rhythms are extremely free. The polyphony is less 'horizontal' than in early Renaissance music - that is, the separate voices don't stretch their phrases in such complex independence - and more 'immediate', more focused on expressing each image or emotion in the poetic text.



The more I hear of La Venexiana, the more I think their name alone is 'review' enough; if they're singing it, it's worth hearing."