Polychoral music is so synonymous with 16th century Venice that it is easy to forget that the longest flourishing of this style- possibly even its invention- took place in Germany. Whether or not it was in Munich with the works of Orlande de Lassus that the Gabrielis first encountered its effects, polychoral music came to define German textures and techniques for over a century. Both apprentices and rivals to their Italian counterparts, composers such as Hieronymus Praetorius, Schutz, Hassler and Scheidt, as well as Austria’s Biber, fostered a tradition whose influence would extend all the way to the motets of Bach. This performance places a giant of Baroque choral music, Biber’s Missa Salisburgensis, alongside the Venetian choral works of Monteverdi from which it takes its inspiration. The combination is a heady one, a triumphal musical celebration uniquely appropriate to mark the 200th anniversary year of Salzburg’s affiliation with Austria.
The 1610 Vespers, composed at a pivotal moment in Claudio Monteverdi's life when he sought not only to establish his new musical language but also to obtain high-placed employment, take on new significance here. Based on a renewed philological approach and the most recent musicological research, this version recreates the Vespers in accordance with the Mantuan customs of the time, featuring an order of service and plainchant drawn from local sources. Recorded in the Palatine Basilica of Santa Barbara in Mantua and using only the instruments mentioned in the score, this interpretation favours a chamber aesthetic, as suggested by Monteverdi's remark ad Sacella sive Principum Cubicula accomodata-a work conceived for chapels and the princes' chambers-and reveals the Vespers in their original intimacy, far removed from monumental display. Now restored to it's architectural, spiritual, and sonic setting, the work displays a unique emotional power: the proximity of the voices and instruments establishes an almost intimate connection with the listener.
Monteverdi's 1610 Vespers is the landmark work of early Baroque music. It sits at the crossroads of Renaissance polyphony and the new dramatic style heard in his first opera, L'Orfeo. 'The Vespers' redefined what sacred music could sound like - emotionally immediate, virtuosic, both looking back to the past and driving forward into the future. Monteverdi specialists I Fagiolini and Robert Hollingworth have waited until their 40th birthday to record the 1610 collection. This is a lifetime's work with every nuance of drama and colour brought out in their one-to-a-part performance.
The Gramophone Award-winning ensemble Arcangelo presents a selection from Monteverdi's last three books of madrigals. These ardent and passionate works are microcosms of Monteverdi's great operas and among his most celebrated music. The eighth book of madrigals introduces the genere concitato - (agitated style) that Monteverdi devised to convey the emotions of war, whether physical or psychological. Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda sets an extended passage from Tasso's epic poem Gerusalemme liberata. Tasso's text, set in the time of the first crusade, tells of the combat between the Christian knight Tancredi and the Saracen maiden Clorinda. Most of the action is conveyed by a narrator, sung here by celebrated tenor James Gilchrist.
Live recording of a concert from St. Georgen am Längsee Abbey in Carinthia on June 28, 2003: La Festa presents virtuoso Italian Baroque music with works by Monteverdi and Caccini, combined with traditional tarantellas. Passionate and extraordinarily lively, the Accordone ensemble, led by singer Marco Beasley and harpsichordist Guido Morini, conjures up the spirit of a 17th-century festival. A rousing recording full of improvisational flashes of genius!
The "Scherzi Musicali a tre voci di Claudio Monteverde, raccolti da Giulio Cesare Monteverde suo fratello, et nuovamente posti in luce" ("collected by his brother Giulio Cesare Monteverde and revealed again"), were published in 1607 by Ricciardo Amadino in Venice, and dedicated to "Serenissimo S. Don Francesco Gonzaga Prencipe di Mantova, et si Monferrato." These are 18 compositions selected and edited by Giulio Cesare Monteverdi: 17 "Scherzi," strophic songs written by Claudio, except for the last two by Giulio Cesare himself, and a wider concluding ballet, "De la bellezza le dovute lodi." Even with light and schematic compositions such as "Scherzi," the rules of the "Seconda Prattica" do not fail: new polyphonic technique, innovative use of dissonance, original concertation and, above all, great importance to the lyrics, with a strong dramatic power, before harmony and rhythm. The set is a masterpiece of the history of music of that time, in the mark of eternal quarrel between ancient and modern. The EsaEnsemble, a female vocal group directed by Sergio Chierici and accompanied by the instrumental ensemble Baschenis, effectively deals with this important work by the great genius of the Renaissance, in a colorful variety of vocal and instrumental organics supported by a wide use of period instruments.
After the success of their album of music by Franceco Cavalli, the Cappella Mediterranea and Mariana Flores now present a programme devoted entirely to works for solo voice by Claudio Monteverdi, from the famous Lamento d’Arianna to the sublime (and much less well known) Voglio da vita uscir. Mariana Flores embodies here the most touching personalities of this section of Monteverdi’s output. Argentinean soprano Mariana Flores studied singing at the Universidad Nacional de Cuyo and the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. Since then she has lived and worked in Basel. She regularly sings early operas and vocal literature alongside fine ensembles like the Cappella Mediterranea. The ensemble Cappella Mediterranea was founded in 2005 by the Argentinian conductor Leonardo García-Alarcón. As its name indicates, the ensemble originally arose from a passion for the music of the Mediterranean basin, and aimed to propose a different approach to Baroque music of the Latin tradition. With more than forty-five concerts each year, the ensemble explores the madrigal, the polyphonic motet and opera, a mixture of genres that has molded a unique style characterized by an exceptionally close rapport between the conductor and his musicians.
The present recording constitutes more than just a new version of the Vespers. It is the first recording of the Vespers in the alternative version proposed by the composer, without concertato instruments. It reveals the underlying matrix of the work we all know, the 'original version' to which Monteverdi added concertato instruments for use in large-scale performances. Respecting the structure of the Office of Vespers, Ludus Modalis has chosen to frame the psalms with the antiphons corresponding to a Marian ceremony. The interpretation proposed here is one influenced by the Renaissance tradition. It places the work in perspective in a musical world at the point of equilibrium between prima and seconda prattica, between the achievements of tradition and the contributions of modernity. Ludus Modalis is a professional ensemble of five to twelve singers formed around the tenor Bruno Boterf. The group focuses principally on polyphonic Renaissance and early Baroque repertoire, with incursions into contemporary music. Apart from the absence of a conductor in the standard sense, the ensemble's specificity and it's 'sound blend' are the fruits of thoroughgoing attention to the parameters of a cappella polyphony: the development of an intonation aimed towards achieving a clarity of harmonic intervals; the attention paid to the text on the basis of the declamation and historical pronunciation; and the richness of the sonority achieved through the use of a variety of vocal timbres and colors, as well as a subtle mix of female, male, and even children's voices.
Today regarded as one of the most innovative and active Baroque ensembles on the international scene, Cappella Mediterranea has already made several distinguished recordings for the Ricercar label. Leonardo Garcia Alarcon will continue his diverse collaborations with Ricercar, but will also release several projects with Alpha Classics, beginning with this original program of music by one of his favorite composers, Claduio Monteverdi. On the occasion of a music theater piece performed at the Doge’s Palace in Venice which was centered on Poppea, whom her nurse Arnalta warns against the vices, Cappella Mediterranea recorded this anthology of arias and madrigals alternating between sins and virtues, performed by the singers who have made the ensemble’s reputation, including Francesca Aspromonte as Poppea, Mariana Flores in Si dolce e’l tormento among others, and the tenor Emiliano Gonzalez-Toro.
14 distinct titles introduce this exciting new series uniting the finest Alpha and ZZT Baroque recordings. Discover - or rediscover - universally known works as well as world premiere recordings of rarities. Newly conducted artist interviews allow for fresh perspectives on their recordings. All releases, digipak in format with trilingual booklets, feature photographs by great (Magnum Cooperative) contemporary artists adorning the covers and a strong 'queen of colors' scheme, bringing to mind gods, kings, warriors, the devil, life, violence and death... Themes omnipresent in Baroque art!
Monteverdi: Selva Morale E Spirituale Vol 1 / Christophers, The Sixteen
Coro
CD
$20.99Sep 27, 2010
Without doubt, Monteverdi was the greatest of the early baroque European composers. He revolutionized the music of the theatre and the church with his dramatic, imaginative use of voices and instruments, and with his daring harmonies and rhythms. Next to his Vespers of 1610, the Selva morale e spirituale of 1641 is his most significant and virtuosic collection of sacred music. Over the next few years, The Sixteen will record the complete publication with a variety of forces for CORO.
“The Sixteen under Harry Christophers respond with breathtaking assurance.” — Gramophone
Monteverdi: Vespro Della Beata Vergine / Suzuki, Et Al
BIS
CD
$34.99Mar 01, 2001
‘Our main purpose for this recording,’ writes Masaaki Suzuki, ‘was to perform all the music contained in the collection that Monteverdi published in 1610.’ So he begins with the Missa In illo tempore, a superb example of old-style, elaborate polyphony; moves through the Vespers themselves, following the original order of the pieces and interpolating nothing; then, after the lavish Magnificat a 7, he ends with the more modest Magnificat a 6, which Monteverdi appended as an alternative.
This straightforward approach seems almost radical given the current glut of more fanciful versions, in which conductors reshuffle the Vespers, pepper them with antiphons and works by other composers and variously ‘adapt’ them to fit specific liturgical occasions. Such diverse interpretations make the choice of a benchmark recording highly subjective. Gardiner (dramatic, on Archiv) and Parrott (intimate and liturgically correct, on Virgin Veritas) offer fine, contrasting views, and several other versions (Christie, Garrido, Junghänel, Pickett) are well worth exploring.
This new set is consistently engaging. Unlike his rivals, Suzuki uses a high pitch of A=465Hz (common in Monteverdi’s Italy), but follows current thinking in transposing certain pieces down a fourth (the Missa, the Magnificats, ‘Lauda Jerusalem’). Performances throughout are expressive, sharply focused, intensely committed. Though he dispenses with liturgical trappings, Suzuki, aided by a spacious ‘churchy’ acoustic, certainly brings out the ritualistic and devotional character of the music, from the ornate orchestral splendour of the ‘Sonata sopra Sancta Maria’ to the tender vocal passions of ‘Pulchra es’ and ‘Duo Seraphim’. Excellent.
Without doubt, Monteverdi was the greatest of the early baroque European composers. He revolutionised the music of the theatre and the church by his dramatic and imaginative use of voices and instruments and by his daring harmonies and rhythms. Next to his Vespers of 1610, the Selva morale e spirituale of 1641 is his most significant and virtuosic collection of sacred music. Monteverdi stretches every singer's versatility to the limit in this demanding but exhilarating music. Included on this final volume are the eight part Magnificat (Primo) - one of the most impressive of all Monteverdi's settings with the added richness of doubling strings; the old style Credidi and Memento featuring the full choir; and the exquisitely beautiful soprano solo, Pianto della Madonna 'Iam moriar, mi fili', performed here by Grace Davidson.
![Biber: Missa Salisburgensis & Sacred Works by Monteverdi / Collegium 1704 [Blu-ray]](http://arkivmusic.com/cdn/shop/files/3817011.jpg?v=1788485525&width=800)
![Biber: Missa Salisburgensis & Sacred Works by Monteverdi / Collegium 1704 [Blu-ray]](http://arkivmusic.com/cdn/shop/files/51To-dHSSDL.jpg?v=1788485525&width=800)
![Biber: Missa Salisburgensis & Sacred Works by Monteverdi / Collegium 1704 [Blu-ray]](http://arkivmusic.com/cdn/shop/files/3817011.jpg?v=1788485525&width=400)
