'Music to delight in and to revel in, but also it's incredibly spiritual, it really does get to the heart.'

The story of a Renaissance Duke and the composer who worked for him - and how their volatile relationship would create one of the most revolutionary and beautiful collections of music ever published: The Monteverdi Vespers of 1610.

In this BBC documentary, actor and former chorister Simon Russell Beale invites us into the heart of the Vespers and the world of their creator. From Cremona where Monteverdi was born, via the sumptuous Palace of the Duke of Mantua, to Venice where the Vespers helped the composer to land his dream job. Simon is joined by Harry Christophers and his virtuoso choir 'The Sixteen', together with a hand-picked orchestra of 21 early music specialists. Filmed in the Victorian acoustic marvel of St Augustine’s Church in Kilburn, together they reveal some of the inner workings of the music with its dramatic echo effects and subtle instrumental textures. Performances include thrilling extracts from the Vespers and also some of the poignant secular madrigals that had such an influence on the structure of the work.

This is a lovely recording. It is always good to be reminded of Monteverdi's third extant opera and the least well known of the three. It's also a sad reminder of how much of his work has been lost. However, this recording gave me a lot of pleasure. There aren't as many recordings out there of Ulisse as there are of Orfeo or Poppea. It has structural flaws which probably place it below its two companions, but what is represented here is excellent.

Martin Pearlman has made his own performing version of the score, working from the only surviving manuscript copy. He explains his editing decisions in the booklet note, and you can also hear him talk about it at length, if you're interested. You'd need to be a greater expert than I am to pick out any major differences from pre-existing versions. Suffice to say that Pearlman makes his own decisions about how to fill in the gaps that have been left in the score.

The result is a labor of love in which he has invested much of his time, energy and passion, and that comes across in what you hear. He has also assembled a team who have bought into his vision completely, performing with passion and total commitment. Central to the sound-world of the recording is the playing of Boston Baroque, Pearlman's own band. They sound as marvelous as their other recordings have led me to expect. There is a slightly acidic quality to their sound but it is very energetic and full of affection. This is a score, and an edition, that Pearlman knows well and wants to bring to life with beauty and affection. There were innumerable touches that brought it to fruition, such as the chattering brightness that the winds often brought to proceedings. Pearlman's way with the dance music is very convincing. I also loved vitality of the score for the brief pastoral scene at the opening of Act 2, full of tremendous verve. The orchestral accompaniment to the gods' scene in the third act also sounds very fine. Throughout the opera there is a focus on beauty above all. This never undermines the drama, however, and many little touches bring that to the fore over and over again.

The singing cast is excellent, too. Fernando Guimarães is magnificent as Ulisse himself. His voice is passionate, ardent and fully committed, a delight in this role which he makes sound totally human. His mannerisms are technically very impressive too. He knows and loves the style of the period, which makes him a first-rate travelling companion for Pearlman's vision. Jennifer Rivera's Penelope is, if anything, even better. Hers is a low, slightly husky voice but I fell for it completely. Her portrayal of the queen is sensual and dignified but deeply felt, and her opening lament is something that not just welcomes you into the opera but gets you hooked. She is equally fine during the climactic scene of Act 2 when she presents Ulysses' bow to the suitors for the contest, full of possibility but also ample regret. The greatest moment in the opera comes in the final recognition duet, where the voices of Guimarães and Rivera blend beautifully while the orchestra spins a beatific web of sound around them. It's a magnificent ending to the disc.

Aaron Sheehan is a dashing, youthful-sounding Telemaco, who sings with ardour and passion, linking him with but setting him apart from the sound of his father. As Melanto, Abigail Nims is energetic and skittish, a strong contrast to Penelope. Their duet towards the end of Act 1 is beautiful, not least due to the contributions of the Boston Baroque strings. Daniel Shirley's Eurimaco manages to convey much of the character's duplicity, and his voice blends beautifully with Nims'. Daniel Auchincloss is a surprisingly virile, affectionate Eumete, while Marc Molomot cuts a slightly ironic, rather unpleasant figure as Iro, but at least he knows that the part is little more than a comic caricature. The trio of suitors are surprisingly sympathetic, and their Act 2 trio with Penelope (Ama dunque, sì, sì) is very beguiling. Antinous has an eerie resonance, however, and Ulysses Thomas' resonant bass brings him to life very compellingly.

The gang of gods are also very convincing. João Fernandes is a rich, boomy Neptune - beautifully accompanied, first by the buzzing organ then by endearingly chattering cornetts - while Owen McIntosh's tenor makes a surprisingly young-sounding, vigorous Jupiter. Leah Wool is at first slightly warbly as Minerva, but she sounds more comfortable as the opera progresses. Sonja DuToit Tengblad is a bright, sparkly Juno. The Prologue, too, sets the tone for the rest of the opera to come: bouncy and full of life; not at all a mere forethought. The chorus don't have much to do, but what they have is done very well with lots of energy and bounce.

Even aside from its unique qualities, this Ulisse sits pretty close to the top of the available recordings that I've heard. Its studio perfection is more welcoming than Alan Curtis' live version, for all its merits, and, while I acknowledge his importance, I've never been able to love Harnoncourt's version which sounds paradoxically wilful and underdone in places. René Jacobs typically has his own quirks and, for once, I thought they worked rather well, but I now rate Pearlman's version very highly too. Definitely worth a look for Monteverdians old and new.

– MusicWeb International (Simon Thompson)

Monteverdi’s great opera is a celebration of unwavering devotion, conveyed in some of the composer’s most poignant, heart-breaking music. After two brutal decades of war, the weary Ulysses is washed up on the rocky shore of his home island of Ithaca. There, he discovers the hordes of depraved admirers who have beseiged his faithful wife Penelope in his 20-year absence – and launches into battle to win back her love. Monteverdi’s opera is a celebration of unwavering devotion, conveyed in some of the composer’s most poignant, heartbreaking music. John Eliot Gardiner leads an exemplary cast of world-class singers alongside the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists in this live recording from The National Forum of Music in Wroclaw, Poland – part of their critically acclaimed Monteverdi 450 tour in 2017.

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REVIEWS:

Faced with lots of recitative and practically no arias, singers and players abandon themselves to intense arioso, jazzy cross-rhythms between poetry and continuo, and take-no-prisoners dissonances. Furio Zanasi, Lucile Richardot, and Hana Blažiková bring a depth of acting almost without rival.

– BBC Music Magazine

Recitatives flicker and spark with detail. Instrumental textures are spare and speeds swift, and there’s a welcome sense of narrative drive. Text is king, but it’s the rhetoric of the English Baroque Soloists that really counts. Zanasi is a smooth, patrician Uliss. There are more classically beautiful accounts of Il ritorno d’Ulisse available, but perhaps none with quite so much life.

– Gramophone

"This is now the best version of Monteverdi's Return of Ulysses" -- Anthony Pryer, BBC Music Magazine

CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI (1567 – 1643):
Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, Dramma in musica in three acts

Kobie van Rensburg; Christine Rice; Cyril Auvity; Joseph Cornwell; Umberto Chiummo; Juan Sancho; Xavier Sabata; Ed Lyon; H. Bayodi-Nirt; Robert Burt; Marina Rodriguez-Cusí; Claire Debono; Luigi De Donato

Les Arts Florissants/William Christie

Pierluigi Pizzi, director; Roberto Maria Pizzuto, choreography
Recording: Teatro Real, Madrid, April 2009
NTSC All Region; DD 5.1/LPCM 2.0; 16:9; Approx. 175 mins.
Subtitled in Italian, English, German, French & Spanish

• Once again William Christie, Les Arts Florissants (celebrating their 30th anniversary at the time of this recording,) and Pier Luigi Pizzi converge as an inspired team in an exciting production.
• First Spanish performance of the opera on DVD and the second of the staged Monteverdi trilogy by the Teatro Real company, co-produced with La Fenice.
• This critically acclaimed new release of "L’Orfeo" on DVD has drawn worldwide attention.
• DVD includes interviews to W. Christie, K. van Rensburg and C. Rice.

"Last year we gave a performance here in the Teatro Real of Monteverdi’s Orfeo, this year we have Ulisse and next year Poppea. We’re no longer in Mantova and we’re no longer in the Court of the Prince. We’re in Venezia and essentially [at] the beginning of the public opera house. We’re also at the beginning of what will become opera seria, that’s to say beyond the instrumental colors, the great dances and the great pageants, [are] the beautiful effects of the singing, it’s bel-canto and so the orchestral accompaniment becomes simpler.
This is the essential difference between Orfeo and these last...two operas that were composed toward the end of his life. Orfeo is the beginning of the 17th century, the very beginning, the first ten years [and] he’s a young man, and Poppea and Ulisse are works of old age when he became a resident in Venezia. When Monteverdi was Maestro di Cappella of San Marco he is writing essentially for the new phenomenon, the Venetian opera house." - from William Christie’s interview 2008 included on in the DVD

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.

MONTEVERDI: Scherzi Musicali a Tre Voci

I was not in a Monteverdi mood; I haven't been impressed with Italian vocal ensembles in recent years; and these madrigals never were among my favorite pieces. So, after ignoring this release for a couple of months, I decided to listen to it, fully expecting to move quickly on to something else. What a surprise! These performances turned out to provide one of the more rewarding listening experiences I've had in a long while, the seven male singers (three countertenors, two tenors, baritone, and bass) and their occasional instrumental partners (theorbo and harpsichord) enlivening these works--some of Monteverdi's most colorful and expressive--with deft technique, splendid ensemble blend and balance, and an amazingly rich timbral palette that the performers employ with convincing command of style and consummate good taste.


Although they thankfully resist any temptation to overplay the expressive aspects of the texts and music (poetry by Tasso and Guarini), there's no shortage of drama, as exemplified in such madrigals as Vattene pur crudel (Go then, cruel man) and the following Là tra 'l sangue (There, as you lie suffering)--and perhaps the disc's highlight, O rossignuol ch'in queste verdi fronde (O nightingale who favors a perch among these green boughs). The less overtly theatrical pieces (O dolce anima mia; Ch'io non t'ami, cor mio?) are rendered with the same care for detail and artful phrasing that characterize the entire program, and conductor Marco Longhini's reasonably defensible decision to perform these madrigals with only male singers proves to be a very satisfying one, especially with such attractive, ideally matched, and expressive voices. This is great stuff, recorded in first-rate sound--and I take back what I said about Italian vocal groups and about my lack of enthusiasm for these excellent Monteverdi works. And I strongly urge you to join in the fun! [5/21/2004]
--David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com

After hearing the excellent Book 3 in this series from Marco Longhini and his Delitiae Musicae, I had to go back and hear the recording of Book 2 that I had somehow overlooked--and just like its successor, this one is another winner. Here the 22-year-old Monteverdi was concerned with the vivid imagery of nature and the lyrical and often impassioned portrayals of love depicted in the poetry of Torquato Tasso--and indeed these 21 madrigals are a virtual textbook on the art of musical word and scene painting and in the technique of packing a lot of drama into very little space with minimal performing forces. You have only to hear the opening two-part Non si levav'ancor l'alba novella to understand how a work in this genre could be called a masterpiece.


And while the singing on this disc and in these madrigals is sometimes more aggressive and emphatic--yet still balanced with many moments of more subtle, gentle expressions--than in Book 3, some of this can be attributed to the engineering (and perhaps the different venue), with its closer perspective and higher recording level. The rest is simply due to the different character of the music, which the ensemble captures with nothing less than exemplary style and captivating, scintillating vocalism. These unusual all-male Monteverdi madrigal performances are turning out to be the versions of choice--definitely worth serious attention.
--David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com

Includes work(s) by Claudio Monteverdi. Ensemble: Delitiae Musicae. Conductor: Marco Longhini.

MONTEVERDI: Canzonette

Ulysses and Monteverdi: passion and action at the heart of musical drama. Penelope sings of her endless wait, her hope to see the king of her heart again, while her suitors besiege her to take her hand and the throne. The return of Ulysses to Ithaca after twenty years of wandering brings the drama to a close. Travelling incognito disguised as an old man, he arrives at the palace for the contest that Penelope has arranged: whoever manages to bend Odysseus’ former bow will have the hand of the queen. The old man in rags presents himself to the court, and achieves his revenge... Stéphane Fuget conducts this masterpiece, using every instrumental spell to fulfil his great ambition: to restore to Monteverdi’s music and singing all of its ornaments and colors, thanks to a magnificent cast and their passionate support.

In 1641, the collection Selva morale e spirituale was published in Venice by Bartolomeo Magni. The set raises a number of questions. Was it compiled by Monteverdi himself or were commercial interests at play? Was it a musical testament or another’s tribute to the great composer? The title, literally ‘moral and spiritual forest’, is also puzzling. We should bear in mind that Monteverdi, in his mid-70s at the time of publication, was very elderly for that time in history. He had already served for three decades as Maestro di Cappella of San Marco in Venice, during which time he constantly wrote new music for all kinds of liturgical and semi-liturgical celebrations. And indeed, many of the pieces in the ‘Selva’ appear to have originated from the liturgy of the vespers and the high mass – psalms, hymns, a complete mass, Marian antiphons – pieces we would expect to find in a collection of spiritual music from that time. Surprisingly, however, we also find pieces on secular texts, in the composer’s mother tongue even. Though they can be categorised as morale (moralistic), they would in all likelihood not have been performed in liturgical celebrations but may have accompanied the many semi-liturgical festivities held in Venice. Also remarkable is that Monteverdi dedicates the Selva to Eleonora Gonzaga, reminding us that despite his sudden departure from the court at Mantua in 1610, Monteverdi maintained strong ties with his former employer, for whom he wrote his seminal operas Orfeo and L’Arianna, the latter almost completely lost save for the Lamento d’Arianna, which he gives in the Selva as the contrafact Pianto della Madonna. Mantua marked his heyday, the time of his books of madrigals and the opera premieres.

Gramophone Magazine's DVD/Blu-ray of the Month - Awards Issue 2022

Claudio Monteverdi was a pioneer in the origins and development of opera, taking vocal music beyond Renaissance polyphony and entering a modern era in which genuine feelings and emotions are expressed through a wide variety of characters. Part of a late flowering in Monteverdi’s illustrious career, Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria is considered the most tender and moving of his three surviving operas. It takes its narrative from the second half of Homer’s Odyssey, presenting Ulysses as a flawed hero; a lone wanderer who has to overcome cruel tests, terrible hardships, treachery and deception before he can be reunited with his faithful queen Penelope and recover his kingdom. Recorded in Venice’s historical Teatro La Fenice, this semi-staged production is part of John Eliot Gardiner’s acclaimed celebration of Monteverdi’s 450th anniversary, a true milestone in Western cultural history.

REVIEWS:

Gardiner and Rooke’s conception for Ulisse is simple, direct and subtle. Richardot captures Penelope’s loneliness and constrained emotions, her guarded conversations with the loathsome suitors and fury at Telemaco’s foolish praise of Helen of Troy’s beauty, and her struggle to trust that her husband has at long last returned. Furio Zanasi is a world-weary yet dignified Ulisse, humble during his meeting with Blažíková’s alert Minerva, and quietly confident during his homecoming trials. The naive lovers Melanto and Eurimaco are portrayed with delightful ease by Anna Dennis and Zachary Wilder. Francisco Fernández-Rueda’s faithful shepherd Eumete is sweetly articulate, and his antithesis Iro is acted with stinging bluntness by Robert Burt. The suitors are brought to life with distinctive personalities: Burrato’s Antinoo is the ringleader, a bullying menace capable of silver-tongued charm; Gareth Treseder’s Anfinomo is smarmy; Michał Czerniawski’s Pisandro is a wimp. The only props are Ulisse’s long shabby coat, and Iro’s bag of steak-flavor McCoys and large cup of Coca-Cola. A physical bow would have been useful at the end of Act 2, although Gardiner and Rooke’s solution is ingenious: Richardot’s tense Penelope is herself the unyielding bow; after the over-confident suitors fail to force her outstretched arms together, the disguised Ulisse stands behind her and his gentle embrace brings her hands over her heart (her shock is palpable).

-- Gramophone

The production is a semi-staging. There are no sets, but a stepped rear platform gives height, not least for scenes with the gods, while the rest of the action is at stage front. The orchestra is on stage, divided into two halves placed left and right of the conductor. His seated central position has space around him so the singers can move freely in and out, sometimes interacting directly with the instrumentalists. The drama responds very well to this approach.

There are no music stands, and no concert dress, of course: the singers move and act in costume. Costumes are mostly modern and formal, such as Penelope’s elegant burgundy-colored long dress. Ulisse’s garb, especially his worn overcoat, manages to suggest a dignified personage masquerading as a beggar, rather than actual poverty. Neptune and Jove are splendid in white tie, the former in smart blue suit, the latter in black. The suitors sport variously colored waistcoats with mandarin collars, and the shepherd Eumete wears a white smock.

The characters’ movement is convincing, dramatic when required, and close camera work catches it well. One has to make allowances, as for example in the very final moment. In a close-up, the faces of husband and wife converge for an embrace of recognition at last, but in our view separated by the back of the conductor’s head. There are no props, but one notices it only when Ulisse’s bow is needed for the suitors at the end of Act Two, and is replaced by some unconvincing mime. Overall, though, this considered and respectful presentation is most effective, and suits the work’s statuesque qualities, and yet does not impede its occasional comic ones.

The casting is exemplary, and the hand-picked team of sixteen solo singers is strong and consistent. The leading roles are very well taken, and performances honed to persuasive stage characterisation, presumably by thorough preparation and many performances. Lucile Richardot’s Penelope has dignity and passion; her rich contralto is well suited to both. Her long-absent and unrecognised husband Ulisse is Furio Zanasi, whose firm high baritone is distinctive enough to set him apart from those with whom he interacts. That includes the touching scenes with his son Telemaco, excellently sung by tenor Krystian Adam. But this applies all down a long cast list, and indeed to the superb Monteverdi Choir, whose few contributions are predictably fine. Heavenly indeed is their celestial spirits’ chorus “Giove amoroso” in Act Three.

-- MusicWeb Inteernational

Monteverdi’s Fourth Book of Madrigals, published in 1603 after an eleven-year gestation, bears witness to the metamorphosis of the madrigal and the rapid evolution of music at the turn of the two centuries. It is also a model of the genre and may be regarded as one of the most innovative and emblematic of its composer’s style. This bold, complex book is the culmination of the application of the precepts of the seconda pratica on the cusp of the seventeenth century. The dedication tells us that some of its madrigals had been intended for presentation to Duke Alfonso II d’Este (who died in 1597), thus revealing the key influence on this collection of the court of Ferrara, then one of the most sophisticated in Europe and a crucible of musical innovation. Following the release of the Vespers, Philippe Herreweghe, a great lover of Italy and its repertory, accompanied as ever by Collegium Vocale Gent, signs his second recording devoted to Monteverdi on the Phi label with this Fourth Book of Madrigals.

Monteverdi, Scarlatti and Verdi -all three were opera composers. Their letters very clearly show this was how they saw themselves. How fortunate then that they also turned their hand to church music! Whether by choice or for financial reasons hardly matters, since they thereby abolished the artificial separation between the secular and religious spheres. But what about the religious dimension of these works? None of them ever mentioned it. Yet their brilliant inspiration turned these sacred texts into musical masterpieces -music as vividly of its time and as timeless as their operatic creations.