Pianta Anima

Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) - The Madrigals - Raymond Leppard (1998) {8CD Box Set Philips 462 243-2}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 2.56 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 1.20 Gb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 286 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1969, 1971, 1975, 1998 Philips Classics | 462 243-2
Classical / Renaissance / Baroque / Vocal Music / Secular and Sacred

Genius can be defined in a number of ways. One such definition is to be the right person in the right place at the right time; another is to have the capacity to move your audience to tears. Monteverdi meets both these criteria with flying colours. His professed ambition was to "move the passions of the soul," thereby drawing tears from his audience, and he achieved this with greater efficacy than any of his contemporaries. The use of the word "madrigal" on the title pages of his eight collections (and a posthumous Ninth Book from 1651) is therefore deceptive, concealing radical stylistic changes which brilliantly reflect the turbulent, exciting times in which he lived.

Led by Damien Guillon, twenty musicians (including six violins, two violas and a basso continuo) from the Banquet Céleste Ensemble fill the abbey Saint-Robert with a full and joyous sound. As is tradition at the festival, a few moments before the sacred opera, an instrumentalist plays the Ave Maris Stella, a piece for organ. This baroque masterpiece is based on the life, trials and tribulations of Mary Magdalene, which is brilliantly interpreted by the soprano Emmanuelle de Negri. Conductor and soloist, counter-tenor Damien Guillon ensures that the instrumentalists don’t overwhelm the ghostly singing in the delicate atmosphere.

The extraordinary series of 1998-2006 recordings of the nine published books of madrigals by Monteverdi, from Claudio Cavina and the Italian ensemble La Venexiana, is now available in limited-time and limited-number boxed set form from Glossa. This multi-award-winning cycle set new standards in textual declamation, rhetorical color and harmonic refinement. Also included is the Live in Corsica album of Monteverdi madrigals (2002) and a newly-written essay by original series essayist Stefano Russomanno of which all, along with full texts and translations in PDF form, are also included.