Concerto Italiano - Monteverdi: Il Sesto Libro De Madrigali (2006)

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Concerto Italiano - Monteverdi: Il Sesto Libro De Madrigali (2006)

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Monteverdi's Sixth Book of Madrigals (1614) is significant for including both traditional polyphonic and stile nuove concerted madrigals. In his booklet-notes, Rinaldo Alessandrini points out that this is also a 'book of partings': many of the madrigals seem to have been written much earlier than the published date, at a time when Monteverdi suffered the loss of his wife Claudia and his live-in pupil, the singer Caterina Martinelli.
All the texts deal with loss both temporary or permanent – although it's touching to note that the final madrigal, Presso un fiume tranquillo, paints a lovers' reconciliation possibly emblematic of a Heavenly reunion.
When discussing this repertoire it's almost a cliché to say that Concerto Italiano's approach is analytical, La Venexiana's more broadly coalescent (on Glossa). However, this new recording really goes far beyond the supple elegance of line for which La Venexiana are famous, with Alessandrini and his crew employing a tense, edgy rhetoric to reveal an inner psychology while sacrificing neither precision of ensemble nor beauty of sound. Concerto Italiano are now such a sensitive instrument that they respond to the emotional exigencies of the texts like silk to the breeze. Listen to the passionate terza parte of the Lamento d'Arianna; or the final line of Zefirotorna, where the drawn-out dissonances are almost physically painful; or the incredible dynamic and rhythmic control in the Sestina; or the fluid, frighteningly accurate ornamentation in Qui rise, o Tirsi. You could find 100 such examples without ever conveying the many excellences of this recording.

Composer: Claudio Monteverdi
Performer: Craig Marchitelli, Ugo Di Giovanni, Loredana Gintoli, Sergio Foresti, …
Conductor: Rinaldo Alessandrini
Orchestra/Ensemble: Concerto Italiano

Reviews: Rinaldo Alessandrini recorded this collection once before on another label (17:5). Then for Opus 111 (now part of Naïve), he continued with the Fourth, Second, Fifth, and Eighth Books (17:3, 18:5, 20:4, 21:2, 22:2). Now, instead of the expected completion of the Eighth Book, we hear a re-make of the first attempt. Over 13 years later not a single singer remains of the earlier complement, but the Gardano edition of 1620 is still used with harp, theorbos, and harpsichord continuo. (A reviewer in 16:4 claimed the earlier recording used ?Michel Bernstein?s new edition,? confusing the producer of the Arcana label with a supposed editor of the music.) The tempos this time are consistently faster, except only ?Zefiro torna.? The total difference is nine minutes, and Alessandrini has gone from slowest to fastest among four CDs in my collection. The only competition right now is Anthony Rooley?s very different interpretation on Virgin (14:4). Giovanni Antonellini on an old LP set used a chorus, Giovanni Acciai (18:2) made a weak impression, and Raffaello Monterosso (now over a decade old) has never been available here.


This publication includes six madrigals in the new concitato style, an innovation at the time. Yet three other works are recorded singly much more often. One is the ?Lamento d?Arianna,? a five-voice arrangement of the even more familiar aria from the lost opera. Another is the brief ?Zefiro torna? on a Petrarch text. Finally, the Sestina, ?Lagrima d?amante al sepulcro dell?amata? in six parts, was the very first Monteverdi ever recorded (in 1928) and has been familiar ever since. The contrast between Alessandrini?s two recordings and Rooley?s can be heard in the different instrumentation. Alessandrini follows the 1620 edition by using four players. Rooley uses a larger ensemble for the concitato pieces, but renders the Sestina unaccompanied. Acciai seems to have followed the original edition, and even in the concitato pieces he uses at most a gamba and a harpsichord. All four versions are beautifully sung, but I prefer the lively tempos in Alessandrini?s second thoughts, and this new version may be the most dramatically expressive of all, if only marginally so. Alessandrini?s notes are detailed and informative, greatly expanded from the note in his earlier disc. While anyone can be satisfied with any of the four discs, new purchasers are urged to look for this one.