Pur ti Miro

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)

Denys Darlow conducts a fresh stylish performance with his London Handel Festival forces, recorded live at the Royal College of Music. Textures are clean and rhythms light and resilient, with James Bowman in the title-role leading a consistently reliable team.

As part of Deutsche Grammophon’s release of a limited and numbered edition of Claudio Abbado’s complete recordings for DG, Decca and Philips, you can now enjoy Volume 10 in a series of 16 digital albums, which are organised in alphabetical order of composer name. This twelfth digital album presents music by Gioachino Rossini.

Der Garant für die hohe musikalische Qualität der Produktion war Festspielleiter Nicholas McGegan. Diese Rodelinda bestach durch eine differenzierte und ungeheuer lebendige Interpretation von Händels Musik. Mit dem Orchester Concerto Köln stand ihm auch eines der besten "Barock-" und Opernorchester zur Verfügung, das in dieser Rodelinda vor allem die lyrischen Dimensionen des Werkes genussvoll gestaltete.

Andrea Gabrieli (c. 1510-1586) was one of the first native Venetians to hold the positions of Second and then First Organist in the basilica of San Marco. These were the highest musical appointments in the city, and their holders was expected to compose much of the music they played. In the event, like his predecessor Merulo and his successor (his nephew Giovanni Gabrieli), Andrea was adept at all musical forms, especially the new and up-to-date (very secular) madrigal, a sort of vocal chamber music. A splendid selection of these, interspersed with instrumental canzoni (in which one can see the influence he had on his more-famous nephew) that offer welcome contrast to the vocal music. Manfred Cordes leads Weser-Renaissance Bremen in pungent period-instrument performances.

Monteverdi was only 23 when he published his Second Book of Madrigals in 1590, but he was already a master of the form, and these contrapuntally lively pieces, with their supple and astute text setting, are crowning works of late Renaissance secular polyphony. With this release of the Second Book, Rinaldo Alessandrini moves closer to his goal of recording all of Monteverdi's eight Books of Madrigals, performed by Concerto Italiano, the ensemble he founded in 1984. The series has received much-deserved critical acclaim; three of the releases won Gramophone Awards, and this 1994 recording won a Diapason d'Or. Concerto Italiano is a group whose roster is flexible, based on the requirements of the music performed, and here seven unaccompanied singers configure themselves in a variety of combinations in the five-part madrigals.

Just when you thought that you had heard everything… My question is: where did they ever assemble such an across the board inept and painful to listen to group of singers. I mean really ! It just boggles the mind. I have NEVER heard a more lifelesss and just plain BLAH! rendition of a baroque opera in my life.
I was punished for seeking out a bargain (got it 2nd hand @ a terrific price).
Guess I'll go and dig out my trusty old vinyl recording with Teresa Stich-Randall, Maureen Forrester etc. to hear a passionate & even sanguine performance of this excellent Handel opera. That & the 3 excerpts by Marilyn Horne on her early Bach & Handel disc, which are GREAT ! [amazon]

Agostino Steffani (1654-1728) was the most important composer ever to be appointed by the Duchy of Hannover. At the end of the 17th century this noble family embarked on a cultural offensive with the objective of having Duke Ernst August become a prince elector. To this end, the Welph dynasty obtained the services of Steffani, a master choice in itself as his works are still performed to this day in the majestic gardens of Princess Caroline of Monaco and her husband, the current Ernst August of Hannover.

Antonio Vivaldi’s fame as an opera composer is due in now small part to his incredible industry. He composed around 50 operas, and of these around 16 have survived complete – several substantial fragments of others have also survived. It is for his instrumental music that he remains one of the major baroque composers – on a par with Handel and J.S. Bach, however, in the world of opera at the time, only one other composer rivalled Vivaldi in the use of orchestral colour and the way in which the human voice was blended with the accompaniment. The writing for voice generally is on a very high level. The rival was of course Handel, and Vivaldi also was a considerable impressario as was his German/British colleague.