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Jordi Savall is painting Monteverdi in the colours of the Mediterranean. The Catalan maestro has entrusted the title role of this foundational work of Western music to a remarkable baritone: the magnificent Marc Mauillon embodies Orfeo, his resonant and ductile voice in perfect unison with the conductor's musical vision. Here, a warm performance and rich sound reign supreme!

Composed in three different moments (in Italy, Hanover and London), these delicious duets contain a lot of music that Handel later reused in great works like The Messiah, The Passion of Brockers, Solomon, Jubilate de Chandos, Alcina, Aquatic Music, Esther, Belshazzar , Judas Macabeo, Deborah or the Jubilate of Utrecht, to name a few. Technically very difficult, these jewels contain movements of great beauty and passages of enormous virtuosity that demonstrate not only the brilliance of Handel's vocal writing, but its insurmountable melodic sense and musical imagery. Rossana Bertini and Claudio Cavina, founders of Concerto Italiano, demonstrate the reason why they are considered among the most important specialists in baroque singing.

Carlo Gesualdo is one of the most fascinating composers. It is hard to escape the temptation of seeing in his madrigals the tortured reflection of his psyche, beginning with the murder committed in 1590, when he caught his first wife Maria d’Avalos in blatant adultery with her lover Fabrizio Carafa. The madrigals of the Fifth and Sixth Books are to Gesualdo what the black paintings are to Goya: works conceived in a state of solitude, with no fetters on the artist’s imagination, born in enclosed spaces and used to moving around in their gloom. It is a music fitting to resonate in remote and unusual places.

IIn his setting of Orlando, Handel offers us a score of remarkable dramatic power, diversity and originality. Orlando s mad scene and slumber aria are among the composer s most striking creations. Everything in the opera arouses admiration the extremely varied scoring, the exuberant vocal writing, the rhythmic invention and the supple melodies. On this new recording from K617, Jean-Claude Malgoire and La Grande Écurie et la Chambre du Roy are joined by a cast of talented soloists in a fantastic production rivaling the best in the catalog.

The gleaming smile in the cover shot belongs to a young mezzo-soprano coasting at the top of her game, thrilled at the chance to show off in the 400-year-old Teatro Olimpico in Vicenze. The cheers interspersed throughout this June 1998 concert are her adoring fellow Italians. Count yourself lucky to be able to join them and Cecilia Bartoli with a recording that faithfully reflects the scrumptious range of both her voice and emotional dynamics.