3.0 out of 5 stars
Fine Charpentier/Overrated Monteverdi, May 3, 2010
This review is from: Charpentier: Médée [Excerpts] (Audio CD)
The main interest here is a fine half hour suite of vocal and orchestral excerpts from Charpentier's MEDEE. One of the last recordings in beloved theorist, teacher and conductor Nadia Boulanger's very small commercial discography, she gets fine, lively performances from both singers and instrumentalists. (Although there are no real standout vocal performances.) The technicians from the Istituto Discografico Italiano have cleaned up the 1953 sound recording very nicely.
I have never really liked Boulanger's famous 1937 performances of Monteverdi madrigals that are the filler on this disc. Their fame seems to stem from the fact that they were the first extended run at the composer's music on recordings. The performances seem to lack lightness of touch, and simply lack the musical magic of recordings of these same works by the Deller Consort and other groups starting some twenty years later.
There are no texts.
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