Mostrando postagens com marcador La Venexiana. Mostrar todas as postagens
Mostrando postagens com marcador La Venexiana. Mostrar todas as postagens
terça-feira, 11 de agosto de 2020
CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI : Secondo Libro dei Madrigali (La Venexiana) (2004) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless
La Venexiana's Secondo Libro del Madrigali is the second volume in an edition devoted to the recording of all eight of Claudio Monteverdi's madrigal collections undertaken by the Spanish label Glossa. In promotional materials for the series, Glossa admits that this is a "time when 'complete' recordings seem to be coming less meaningful and attractive for the music lover" but have decided that there is need for such a series, especially as La Venexiana is so well-versed in the madrigals of Monteverdi. For once this is not hype; at present the competition in a book-by-book survey of Monteverdi's madrigals consists of Rinaldo Alessandrini on Opus 111, recorded in the 1990s, and Anthony Rooley with the Consort of Musicke on Virgin, recorded back in the 1980s. Both of these cycles have their virtues and are expertly performed, although Alessandrini's recording is very dry and his sopranos are a tad loud in comparison to the men. Rooley's group contains some very famous singers, including Emma Kirkby and Evelyn Tubb, and the personalities of these very individual voices radiate through the texture. One could count this as a plus or a minus depending on whether the listener likes these vocalists, or prefers a more unified sound in the interpretation of Monteverdi's madrigals.
There are no star performers in La Venexiana and the approach to both singing and sound is consistent throughout. Secondo Libro del Madrigali was recorded in the Basilica of San Gaudenzio in Novara and is a little quiet in volume, but the voices blend very well with no sharp edges. The bass in La Venexiana, Daniele Carnovich, is in particular outstanding and deserves singling out, but overall Secondo Libro del Madrigali seems to touch all the right bases in terms of what Monteverdi intends to convey through the music. The second book of 1590 contains early Monteverdi madrigals and includes some individual pieces that remain among the most popular of his short works in this genre. If one is looking for a single disc out of Glossa's Monteverdi Edition in order to sample the whole project, this is a good place to start. by Uncle Dave Lewis
CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI : Quinto Libro dei Madrigali (La Venexiana) (2007) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless
With the release of Monteverdi's Fifth Book of Madrigals, La Venexiana, the extraordinary ensemble founded and led by countertenor Claudio Cavina, comes close to completing its cycle of Monteverdi's nine volumes for Glossa, with only the first and last books left to record. The Fifth Book, published just before Monteverdi wrote Orfeo, is a pivotal collection that incorporates conventions both of Renaissance madrigals and of the emerging Baroque. La Venexiana's performance is notable for its musical and emotional intensity. The singers' remarkably pure and focused tone is piercing in its clarity, and their expressive directness fully captures the extreme affects of the text. Nothing in the performance is static; every sustained note is purposefully and lovingly contoured, and the phrasing has the rhythmic fluidity that Monteverdi considered essential to effective performance of his vocal music. Even a warhorse like "Cruda Amarilli" sounds fresh and newly imagined. Each of the singers has a voice of solo quality -- beautiful, warm, and shapely -- and their choral blend is ravishing. The second half of the collection has continuo accompaniment, and the somewhat eccentric combination of harp and harpsichord offers a pleasing alternative to the standard keyboard with gamba or cello. Glossa's sound is remarkably intimate and present; being able to hear the singers' intake of breath only adds to the immediacy of the performance. by Stephen Eddins
segunda-feira, 10 de agosto de 2020
CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI : Ottavo Libro dei Madrigali - Madrigali Guerrieri et Amorosi (La Venexiana) 3xCD (2005) Mp3
Claudio Monteverdi's late works, like those of Beethoven, contain singular mixtures of simplicity and complexity. Book Eight of his madrigals are about love and war, themes as elemental as they come. Yet consider the madrigal Ogni amante è guerrier (Every Lover is a Warrior, track 6 on the first CD of this set), with its text by Ottavio Rinuccini that subtly conflates the two ideas. Monteverdi's setting, for a low voice, is moody, involved, and philosophical. The Italian early Baroque specialist group La Venexiana plays up these traits with a slow tempo that stretches the work out to nearly a 15-minute length. The later Monteverdi madrigals, for solo voice or voices and the continuo, lend themselves to a variety of interpretations, and there are several good recordings despite the demands of the music. La Venexiana's readings are restrained, with eyes cast backward toward the intellectual qualities of the Renaissance madrigal. The churning instrumental work and vocal fireworks heard in many Monteverdi performances are almost completely absent. Tempos are slow throughout, and this set is the better part of an hour longer than the René Jacobs recording. If pieces like the famed Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorind seem to lack the proper level of intensity, the lovingly detailed Lamento della Ninfa (CD 3, track 3) and many of the more arcane pieces have an intense, hypnotic effect. Perhaps the best way to think about this recording is to imagine it as chamber-sized and madrigal-esque, while those by Jacobs and Rinaldo Alessandrini and Jacobs are garden-sized and operatic. Monteverdi works either way, but this is the set to have if you are deeply into Monteverdi and want to contemplate the mysteries of his career at two in the morning. by James Manheim
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