0017 8012

Girolamo Frescobaldi - Secular Madrigals - Modo Antiquo/Bettina Hoffmann
Frescobaldi Edition, Vol. 6: Il Primo Libro dei Madrigali a cinque voci (1608)
Classical | 1 CD | EAC | FLAC, CUE, LOG | Scans | 205 MB | RS
Recorded: 13-15/4 2008, Oratorio San Francesco Poverino, Florence
Released: 2009 | Label: Brilliant 93793 | TT: 41:56
Modo Antiquo, dir. Bettina Hoffmann

Volume 6 of this path-breaking series, the first to record every extant work by Girolamo Frescobaldi, focuses on the secular madrigals. These works - he wrote one book, and evidently hoped to write more - are no less innovatory than the keyboard works that so impressed and influenced J. S. Bach. […] The nineteen madrigals with which Frescobaldi introduced himself have an admirable clarity of formal design that gives each line its due weight in terms of duration and emotion, and a transparent counterpoint that favours delicacy over density as a stylistic means, homophonic and polyphonic sections being cleverly alternated. It is pleasing to see the respect that Frescobaldi pays to the texts: the words are set to graceful melodic phrases, and never obscured by excessive counterpoint, but interpreted literally with immediate attention to meaning. (brilliantclassics.com)