La Compagnia del Madrigale - Rore: Vieni dolce Himineo & Other Madrigals (2019) [Official Digital Download 24/88]

With ‘Vieni, dolce Imeneo’, La Compagnia del Madrigale make another important stop on their compelling journey across the territory of Italian secular song with a disc devoted to one of the most significant, yet these days somewhat bypassed, composers: Cipriano de Rore.

De Rore was a Fleming who enjoyed great success notably in the Italian courts of Ferrara and Parma - but with a prestige which extended up and across Europe.

He composed in many genres but it is the secular madrigal - recorded here - where his skill was most valued, for example in creating extended and expressive melodic lines coupled with innovatory preechoes of the seconda pratica so triumphantly expressed - albeit amidst great criticism - by Claudio Monteverdi.

Glossa recordings of madrigals by Marenzio, Gesualdo and Monteverdi have already demonstrated musical pleasures, such as an uncommon vocal blend and delicacy and a meticulous dynamic control exhibited by the richly-experienced members of La Compagnia del Madrigale. Those delights are also to be experienced with these 19 madrigals by Cipriano de Rore, composed late in his career.

With texts by Petrarch, Ariosto and assorted court poets for these madrigals, essay writer Marco Bizzarini highlights one of the principal characteristic features of de Rore’s mastery when he points to the disc’s title track, ‘Vieni, dolce Imeneo’: the ideal union between poetry and music.

Tracklist:
1. Madrigali à 5 voci, Libro 5: No. 2, Da le belle contrade 03:45
2. Le vive fiamme de' vaghi e dilettevoli . Madrigali: No. 16, Candido e vago fiore 02:37
3. Madrigali à 5 voci, Libro 5: No. 1, Mentre lumi maggior 03:59
4. Madrigali à 4 voci, Libro 2: No. 1, Un'altra volta la Germania strida 03:48
5. Le vive fiamme de' vaghi e dilettevoli . Madrigali: No. 15, Poi che mi invita amore 04:55
6. Madrigali à 5 voci, Libro 5: No. 10, Non è lasso martire 03:31
7. Madrigali à 5 voci, Libro 4: No. 3, Alcun non può saper 02:29
8. Madrigali à 5 voci, Libro 4: No. 24, Se ben il duol 04:27
9. Le vive fiamme de' vaghi e dilettevoli . Madrigali: No. 6, Alma Susanna 03:34
10. Madrigali à 4 voci, Libro 2: No. 5, O sonno 03:58
11. Madrigali à 5 voci, Libro 4: No. 12, Di virtù di costumi 04:02
12. Le vive fiamme de' vaghi e dilettevoli . Madrigali: No. 11, Tra più beati e più sublimi cori 04:37
13. Madrigali à 5 voci, Libro 5: No. 13, Convien ch'ovunque 02:29
14. Chansons à 4 et 5 parties: No. 24, Vieni dolce Imeneo 03:52
15. Madrigali à 4 voci, Libro 2: No. 9, Mia benigna fortuna 03:36
16. Madrigali à 5 voci, Libro 4: No. 6, Volgi'l tuo corso 03:21
17. Madrigali à 5 voci, Libro 4: No. 7, Come la notte 02:48
18. Madrigali à 5 voci, Libro 4: No. 26, L'alto signor 04:11
19. Madrigali à 5 voci, Libro 4: No. 2, O morte, eterno fin 03:15

Personnel:
Dario Previato, bass
Paola Cialdella, alto
Giulia Beatini, alto
Massimo Lombardi, tenor
Raffaele Giordani, tenor
Daniele Carnovich, bass
Efix Puleo, vielle
Svetlana Fomina, viola da bracchio
Sabina Colonna Preti, viola da gamba
Rossana Bertini, soprano
Giuseppe Maletto, tenor
Francesca Cassinari, soprano
Elena Carzaniga, alto