Customer Reviews

Monteverdi: Madrigali Guerrieri et Amorosi, Libro 8 (Madigrals, Book 8)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Monteverdi Madrigals Book VIII is positively one of the greatest human achievements, and this is positively the best complete recording I have heard of this masterpiece.

Why, you ask, is this humanity's greatest achievement? To answer that, one needs go no further than reading Monteverdi's own preface to this Book. There, he alluded to Plato's 3 styles of oration: high, middle and low. Up to this point, Monteverdi observed that musical rhetoric "has had only the moderate and soft genera, lacking the high or agitated." That was exactly the task he set for himself. In order to move listeners more profoundly, he deployed strong contrast between expressions of anger and expressions of love, hence the title "Warlike and Amorous Madrigals."

That, is irrefutably Monteverdi's great innovation. On the other hand, one may aruge that the words like inventiveness and expressiveness are subjective terms. Perhaps, but for me the music's qualification of these terms is as irrefutable as conclusions of binary logic.

Then you ask, why is this the best performance? In the Seconda Pratica, where the words are the mistress of the harmony, understanding the textural nuance is of the primary importance. Here this group sheds light on Monteverdi's rhetoric as only native Italians can. The performance is dramatic yet sensitive, powerful yet subtle. The tuning is perfect, tones richly colorful, and tempo flexible yet natural, without any sign of artificial mannerism. In this recorded performance, the rhetoric and musical affects reach perfect balance. Every ounce of music's expressive power has been revealed!(*1)

The only complaint I have for Rinaldo Alessandrini and Concerto Italiano is their falling-short of recording the complete nine books of Monteverdi's madrigals. So far, only Book II, Book IV, Book V, Book VI, and this current Book VIII have been recorded.(*2) All of them are gems, but some of them are already hard to find at this site. However, many UK vendors, like MDT, Presto and Amazon's UK site, still carry them, and in some cases in budget repackaging.(*3) The readers will do well collecting all of them before they permanently disappear from the catalogue.

Any lover of Monteverdi's music -- indeed any lover of music -- should not hesitate in picking up this set immediately.

My highest recommendation.

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(*1) Two other outstanding ensembles, La Venexiana / Claudio Cavina and The Consort of Musicke / Anthony Rooley, also recorded Book 8 complete. (In fact, they both recorded *all* eight books of madrigals, although TCOM's Book 7 isn't quite complete. LV also recorded the posthumous Book 9.) Their renditions are definitely worth hearing. In particular, one can easily pick up the generational aesthetic difference by comparing these 2 sets, recorded 15 years apart. However, if you can only own one set, I strongly recommend Alessandrini's.

(*2) I have a pet theory regarding Alessandrini's "running out of steam" in recording the complete 9 books. If one looks closely at the 5 books he recorded, one conclusion seems natural: These five books correspond to pivotal changes in Monteverdi's music styles, and are therefore "more interesting" for the musicians and Monteverdi scholars, which Alessandrini is definitely one. See e.g. Monteverdi and the End of the Renaissance. -- Comments are welcome!

(*3) For example, Naive now offers Book II, IV, V and 1/3 of VIII in a 4-CD box set. (I don't own the repackaged box, so don't know if the sung texts are included.) Book VI and VIII (complete) are still offered separately.

Much has been written about these performances and they deserve all the praise heaped upon them. As the previous reviewer has noted, it is unfortunate the way Naive has marketed these, but for anyone who is interested in Monteverdi--or music at all, for that matter--this is a set well worth the cash. One of the best pieces in my expanding collection.

I just discovered this totally fantastic recording on Napster and came here to learn more about this recording. I totally agree that it is unfortunate the way this was released. Maybe the label decided to combine the three discs aiming for those who don't already have the first two discs and felt that it would sell better as a whole package. Just playing devil's advocate here.

I'm not one to tout the merits of the music industry, but it could be worse. At least this was released! Be thankful for that, considering we're lucky that great stuff like this is recorded and released at all in these times! Think of all the great recordings gathering dust in the archives of so many labels, that may never see the light of day.

In any case, I rarely buy CDs now. Haven't for years. Get all my music legally for 9.99 per month on Napster. When I find exceptional stuff like this I might buy it on CD or preferably vinyl when available. This allows me to hear anything I want. The sad thing I find in this day and age, with such technology available, is that it seems the majority of the people aren't aware of it and continue to support antiquated means of distribution.

You can use a legal commercial online music services such as Napster or Rhapsody to discover music for pennies. Then go spend your money on the best stuff, after you've reviewed it.

As a huge Monteverdi lover who is still discovering his works, this is a gem. So glad to have found it. This sits right up there with my favorite recordings of his Vespers, Orfeo. (At this time there are 19 different recordings of the Vespers and 14 of Orfeo on Napster).

This is an amazing collection. The singing is all top notch as far as I can tell (I'm no expert but I love it). The blend of instrumental accompaniment is perfect. The interpretations so powerful and wrenching. This actually seems like opera to me. The music is so lush, dramatic and varied it's hard to believe it was composed around 1638. This is timeless music.

Get you hands on this and just listen!

It may be disingenuous of me to give a 1-star review of a recording that is of the highest artistic merit, but I have to say that this issue is an incredible betrayal of customer loyalty. The first two discs in the set were issued years ago, and I duly bought them. The third disc was never issued separately but is only available in the complete set, meaning that I have to repurchase the first two discs if I want to hear the third.

I contacted Naïve (in my very best French) about this marketing gaffe received no response.

I have long refused to burn CDs out of respect for the artists' work. I hope I have the opportunity some day to hear the third disk of this recording, but it won't be because I have purchased it. Nor will I acquire any other disks from this label. I may be Naïve, but I'm not gullible.