Customer Reviews

Monteverdi: Tempra La Cetra / Il Combattimento

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... on your shelves, I pledge my honor that you don't own a better performance than this one by the ensemble Tragicomedia. Honestly, I can't even conceive of a more magnificent performance. This is as good as it gets.

The four works included -- Tempro la Cetra, Tirsi e Clori, Il Ballo delle Ingrate, & Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda -- were published in Monteverdi's Seventh Book of Madrigals (1619) and Eighth Book of Madrigals (1638), but they are not really madrigals in the accepted sense of the composer's earlier polyphonic compositions. They're closer to mini-operas, 'seconda prattica' recitativos with basso continuo, with singers representing dramatic personae. Tancredo and Clorinda are characters from the poet Torquato Tasso's epic Gerusalemme Liberata; the work was first performed as a chamber opera in Venice 14 years before it was included in the Ottavo Libro. Tirsi and Clorinda are Arcadian lovers; the dialogue they sing, with words by Alessandro Striggio, seems intended as a kind of ballet. Il Ballo delle Ingrate - The Dance of the Ingrates - was composed for festivities in Mantua in 1608 but probably revised substantially for performance in Vienna in 1628. It has qualities of a court ballet in the French manner as well as of the 'mythological' prologues featured in 17th C operas; the singing characters are Cupid, Venus, and Pluto, with a chorus of the 'Ingrates' who don't acknowledge the power of Love. Only Tempro la Cetra - I Tune the Lyre - is a simple non-dramatic monody.

What makes this performance so excellent? The cast of singers, of course, all at the peak of their art and obviously relishing the opportunity to sing their hearts out: sopranos Suzie LeBlanc, Barbara Borden, and Paļvo Järvīo; tenor John Potter; bass Harry van der Kamp, and others. Van der Kamp is 'profound' indeed in the role of Pluto. Singing this repertoire involves more than reading the notes of a score accurately and in tune; singers of Monteverdi's era were expected to improvise ornamentation and grace their expression, neither too much nor too little, according to rather strict canons of taste. There were 'texts' in the art of ornamentation; modern singers must acquire that art. The singers of Tragicomedia, on this CD, show the whole world of music how it should be done.

Basso continuo, as notated in 17th C sources, is likewise not simply a written-out accompaniment with all the notes on the page. It's largely 'improvised' by the performers -- lute, harp, gamba, lirone, harpsichord, organetto, regal -- and thus depends both on their skills and their taste. Lutenist Stephen Stubbs, the director of Tragicomedia, and harper/keyboardist Andrew Lawrence-King are as tasteful and skillful as any baroque accompanists in the world today. They're supplemented on this CD by bowed string players Erin Headley and Hille Perl. Together, what these continuo specialists add to the brilliance of the singers makes every phrase of the recitativo vibrant. The entrata and sinfonias of these pieces are purely instrumental ballets in the ritornello style, with the ensemble including two violins and a viola.

This is a re-release of a 1992 recording. Fortunately -- and it's not always so -- the notes include full texts of the recitativos in Italian and in English translation. I have only one question now: why have you not already popped this CD in your shopping cart? You'll be sorry if you don't.