Madrigals of Love and Loss
Ballo: Volgendo il ciel - Movete al mio bel suon, SV154 (Madrigals Book 8) [9:47]
Interspersed with
Tarquinio MERULA (1594/5-1665) Ciaccona [3:04]
Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, SV153 (Madrigals Book 8) [20:03]
Or che ’l ciel e la terra e ’l vento tace, SV147 (Madrigals Book 8) [8:13]
Ohimè, dov’è il mio ben, dov’è il mio core? SV140 (Madrigals Book 7) [5:14]
Zefiro torna e ’l bel tempo rimena, SV108 (Madrigals Book 6) [3:46]
Ohimè il bel viso, ohimè il soave sguardo, SV112 (Madrigals Book 6) [4:22]
Sestina ‘Lagrime d’amante al sepolcro dell’amata’, SV111 (Madrigals Book 6) [15:32]
James Gilchrist (tenor), Thomas Walker (tenor), Katherine Watson (soprano), Anna Dennis (soprano)
Arcangelo/Jonathan Cohen
rec. St Jude on the Hill, Hampstead Garden Suburb, London, 11, 13, 15 March 2013. DDD.
Booklet with texts and translations included
CD, mp3, 16- and 24-bit download from hyperion-records.co.uk
HYPERION CDA68019 [70:01]
In recent years my principal benchmark for the latter books of
Monteverdi’s madrigals has been a series of recordings by
Il Concerto Italiano directed by Rinaldo Alessandrini:
• Book 6 (1614): Naïve/Opus111 OP30423; recently reissued
even less expensively than the download as part of a super-budget
2-CD set, NC40042 - review;
see also Download
News 2013/4
• Book 8 (1638): Naïve/Opus111 OP30435 (Recording of
the Month - review)
For Book 7 (1619) my benchmark is:
• Glossa GCD920927 (2 CDs - La Venexiana)
• the Romanesca Ohimè il mio ben from Book
7 on a selection of madrigals from Books 7-9, including Il
Lamento d’Arianna, on Harmonia Mundi d’Abord HMA1951129
(Concerto Vocale/René Jacobs)
Additionally for Book 8:
• Consort of Musicke/Anthony Rooley on super-budget 2-CD
Virgin (now Warner/Erato) 5615702
• Hyperion themselves offer a selection from Book 8, including
the two longer works on the new CD, on budget price CDH55165 (Red
Byrd; The Parley of Instruments/Peter Holman)
The two Hyperion recordings offer the only downloads to come with
texts.
Volgendo il ciel, which opens the new Hyperion programme,
involves some political toadying to the Emperor Ferdinand III,
with Sol, the God of the Sun, ushering in a new age of peace under
his rule, so it seems a little out of place in a recording entitled
Madrigals of Love and Loss. No matter; it’s a fine
work. It receives a fine performance here with the Merula ciaccona
inserted at an appropriate point where a wordless dance is called
for but not specified. Alessandrini inserts another Merula dance
at this point and Holman a brief canario by Prætorius.
Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, based on a dramatic
encounter in Tasso’s epic La Gerusalemme Liberata,
is the major work in this collection. Here Love and Loss is an
entirely appropriate theme, with the crusader’s opponent
whom he kills turning out to be none other than his beloved. The
nodi di fier nemico e non d’amante, embraces of enmity,
not of love, give way to a far different mood at the end:
La vide, e la conobbe; e restò senza
e voce e moto. Ahi vista! ahi conoscenza!
[He saw her, he recognised her; and he was bereft of both voice
and movement. Alas the sight! Alas the recognition!]
There are too many fine recordings of Combattimento to
list, either as part of a complete recording of Book 8 or on a
single CD. The Holman recording on Hyperion’s bargain label
is something of a favourite of mine - if you just want Combattimento,
Altri canti d’amor, Volgendo il ciel and Il ballo
delle ingrate, it’s a snip on CDH55165 for £5.50
or less on disc, or £4.99, with texts, as an mp3 or lossless
download and it comes as an added inducement with Bronzino’s
erotic painting An Allegory with Venus and Cupid on the
cover.
Both these opening works were originally performed with a scenario,
as outlined in both Hyperion booklets. It’s worth knowing
the plot, so it’s a shame that the only way to obtain the
complete Alessandrini set is as a download without texts or notes
- the scenario of Tancredi e Clorinda is outlined in the
booklet which came with the CDs - but Hyperion and Chandos generously
offer pdf downloads of all their booklets to all comers. In any
event, the new Hyperion recording joins Alessandrini and the earlier
Hyperion recording in capturing the drama of the action.
There’s a recording from the 1970s of several Monteverdi
madrigals from the Heinrich Schütz Choir under Roger Norrington.
It used to be well regarded - as recently, indeed, as 1992 when
it was reissued on CD - and it’s still available as part
of a Decca Collectors Edition (4709062). I played my copy of that
1992 reissue (Decca Serenata 4331742; no longer available separately),
where Or che’l ciel e la terra is coupled with Lagrime
d’amante and other works; it undoubtedly receives a
powerful performance but it’s a measure of the change in
the approach to baroque music now that, at just over 11 minutes,
as against 8:13 on the new Arcangelo album, it sounds drawn out
in a manner alien to Monteverdi’s madrigals.
Arcangelo take Or che’l ciel e la terra faster than
most but they never sound rushed, capturing the tranquil mood
of the opening superbly despite the tempo. Only René Jacobs
on HMC901736/37 (download only) is faster; La Venexiana and Alessandrini
are closer to the 10-minute mark By comparison - but only by comparison
- Alessandrini seems to over-emphasise the tranquillity of that
opening.
That René Jacobs’ selection on Harmonia Mundi now
sounds dated in style, though it’s still worth considering
if you want a recording of the Lamento d’Arianna,
the only remaining excerpt from Monteverdi’s lost opera
Arianna, and there’s a better recording of that at
the beginning of the Alessandrini recording of Book 6 listed above.
The real competition for Ohimè, dov’è il
mio ben on the new recording comes from La Venexiana on Glossa.
Where Jacobs and his team canter through in 4:16 yet make the
music sound tedious, Arcangelo (5:14) and La Venexiana (5:33)
give the music more time to breathe. La Venexiana give an ethereally
beautiful account of this madrigal, with individual voices clearly
placed by the recording yet perfectly integrated within the whole.
If you want the whole of Book 7 - and why not? - the Glossa 2-CD
set must receive a strong recommendation. Arcangelo also give
a very fine account of this madrigal, but their tone, though soaringly
beautiful, sounds just a little forthright by comparison with
La Venexiana and the words are a shade less clear.
Ohimè, dov’è il mio ben also features
on a selection of Monteverdi madrigals from I Fagiolini (Chandos
CHAN0760) which I liked when I reviewed it in July 2009 - here.
A 24/96 version has been added to the mp3 and 16-bit lossless
since I first reviewed the Chandos recording. They, too, take
the piece a little on the fast side but sound much more involved
with the music than Jacobs and his team, though they don’t
quite match Arcangelo or La Venexiana. See below for the account
of this piece on the Naxos recording of Book 7.
That Chandos recording also contains Zefiro torna e ’l
bel tempo rimena. Once again, their tempo is a shade faster
than that of Arcangelo, perhaps appropriately since the theme
is the return of Spring but, of course, there’s a sting
in the tail of the Petrarch text: the lover cannot share in the
general delight and I Fagiolini are also adept at expressing the
darker mood of the second half. Here again, however, I thought
Arcangelo just a little more persuasive and their transition from
the universal joy at the return of Zephyrus to the lover’s
inability to share it is managed just a little more naturally.
La Venexiana, whose complete recording of Book 6 is also well
worth considering (Glossa GCD920926), narrowly miss the full measure
of delight at the opening of the madrigal.
Alessandrini’s team are even lighter in the opening yet
a trifle slower overall than Arcangelo and seconds faster than
La Venexiana. They capture the exuberant opening better and of
the four versions of this madrigal which I compared, I award them
the top prize in a very close competition - any one of these recordings
heard alone is very satisfying.
A recent series of recordings of Monteverdi Madrigals by Delitiæ
Musici on the Naxos label has found supporters in some quarters,
but their slow, dragged tempos don’t sit at all well with
me. On paper their account of Zefiro torna is only a few
seconds slower than the other versions that I’ve considered,
but I don’t hear much attempt to convey the joy of the opening.
(Book 6, with some miscellaneous madrigals on a 2-CD set, 8.555312/13
- review).
The languid melancholy of Ohimè, dov’è
il mio ben on their recording of Book 7 suits their style
a little better but I wouldn’t recommend their performances
as a whole (8.555314/16 - this time their slow tempi mean that
they take three CDs for Book 7, thereby negating the advantage
of the budget price).
It’s swings and roundabouts, then. The new Hyperion album
stands up very well even against the strongest competition; it
would make a good introduction to Monteverdi’s madrigals.
It contains some of the best works from the three mature books
and it’s available in 24-bit sound, in which form it sounds
excellent. The booklet is, as always with Hyperion, first class.
The older Hyperion selection from Book 8 is an excellent bargain
and, though available only in 16-bit, still sounds well, as does
the Anthony Rooley set, an even less expensive way to obtain the
complete Book 8.
Serious Monteverdi collectors will want the complete Books 6-8
and La Venexiana are currently the only show in town on CD. Their
recording of Book 7 is particularly recommendable, especially
as Rinaldo Alessandrini appears not to have recorded that, but
his complete Books 6 and 8 remain my overall top recommendation.
For a selection of the best madrigals from Books 6-8 the new Hyperion
recording will do very nicely indeed, but Monteverdi is a more-ish
sort of composer, so be prepared for it to lead you to explore
his music further.
Brian Wilson
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