Claudio Monteverdi

[Drasko]

Is there are really successful, passionate, beautiful, HIP Bk 4 on record?

Try this:

http://www.mediafire.com/?23aodxmxkggxmzn

Si ch'io vorrei morire (libro IV) - La Venexiana - live in Corsica

[Drasko]

and another one:

http://www.mediafire.com/?639wlbb3fd8l9nz

Sfogava con le stelle (libro IV) - La Venexiana - live in Corsica

[Mandryka]

Downloaded and I'm playing Si ch'io vorrei morire as I type. I like it. There's a sort of astringent quality which you don't get in Leppard, and also drama . Thanks a lot.

Is that from here?

http://pixhost.me/avaxhome/d7/9b/00099bd7.jpeg

Have you tried this one?



Such wonderful music! I can see that La Venexiana's record of Book 2 is on spotify so I may play it later. I don't know Bk 2 at all.

I would have thought that with a name like that they'd be a girl band -- but no 

[Drasko]

Both come from that upper pictured disc, concert from Corsica where they sung selections from most books.
Unfortunately haven't got the studio recording (lower pictured disc). I've been wanting to get all 9 books by La Venexiana for years now, but funds are running low.

Such wonderful music! I can see that La Venexiana's record of Book 2 is on spotify so I may play it later. I don't know Bk 2 at all.

Lyrics and their delivery are very important with XVI century Italian madrigals, so do try to find texts with translations before listening on spotify. If you can't, let me know.

[Mandryka]

Pluhar's Monteverdi improvisations.

Ho-boy. It's different. It's not for everybody. The second main review on Amazon gives a fairly accurate review I think (Mr. Evil). Which leads me back to - it's different (though a very high level of playing and singing in any case). Here are a couple of longer excerpts from youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qm641MrwPN0&feature=related and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=020L1rGjnng&feature=related. There were more to listen to if you wanted a wider selection of pieces. I think for the most part it works.

If you haven't already, you should check out their live version (also available on YouTube) of Ohime, chio cado.

I found it on spotify actually and I've listened once. Initial reactions: it's fun. Nice.

It's a bit  fudgy though, sometimes. Very good fudge, but fudge nevertheless. I was hoping that the cornetto "improvisations" would be a bit more challenging.  But no.

I can imagine putting this on to comfort myself after a beastly day at work, listening to it while eating chocolate and drinking too much wine. It is anodyne.

Is there any evidence that improvisation was part of authentic performance practice?

[Mandryka]

and another one:

http://www.mediafire.com/?639wlbb3fd8l9nz

Sfogava con le stelle (libro IV) - La Venexiana - live in Corsica

Lyrics and their delivery are very important with XVI century Italian madrigals, so do try to find texts with translations before listening on spotify. If you can't, let me know.

Well the lyrics of Si ch'io vorrei morire are:

How I could wish for death to come,
now, as I kiss with love
the soft lips of my beloved!
Oh dear sweet tongue,
give me excess of honey
that on this breast I may drown in sweetness
Ah, beloved, to your white breast
strangle me until I faint
Ah lips, ah kisses, ah tongue!
Ah my tongue repeat
How I could wish for death to come!

In Shakespearean imagery, and in John Donne, death is often code for orgasm.   I'm guessing the same for Monteverdi.

I suppose one  question about Si ch'io vorrei morire is how ardently you take it, and interpretations seem to vary tremendously in that,  I found an extraordinary LP by New York  Pro Musica where the whole thing is taken very very erotically, like a lover consumed, burning with desire for orgasm. Let me know if you want me to send you a link to it -- it's very interesting.

I certainly prefer that live Si ch'io vorrei morire  from La Venexiana to Alessandrini, who treats the opening as a sort of yearning pining dream, in my opinion too sentimentally.

[Drasko]

I suppose one  question about Sfogava con le stelle is how ardently you take it, and interpretations seem to vary tremendously in that,  I found an extraordinary LP by New York  Pro Musica where the whole thing is taken very very erotically, like a lover consumed, burning with desire for orgasm. Let me know if you want me to send you a link to it -- it's very interesting.

Sure, why not. Thanks!

btw: those are lyrics for Si ch'io vorrei morire

[Mandryka]

Sure, why not. Thanks!

btw: those are lyrics for Si ch'io vorrei morire

Ah -- edited

[Josquin des Prez]

Lyrics and their delivery are very important with XVI century Italian madrigals

If you can't understand Italian, i have no idea how that can possibly be an issue with anybody.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

Madrigal question

Is there a "greatest hits" type of compilation of the madrigals, consisting of 1 or 2 CDs?

I don't know if I'm going to like this music yet, so I'd like to just put a toe into the water.

[Mandryka]

I don't know about greatest hits but I like the compilation albums from Ensemble Elyma and the one from Haim



Both clearly contain Tancredi, but that's no hardship.

An alternative is to buy a couple of key books -- Book 4 and/or Book 8 I would suggest.

[Drasko]

Madrigal question

Is there a "greatest hits" type of compilation of the madrigals, consisting of 1 or 2 CDs?

I don't know if I'm going to like this music yet, so I'd like to just put a toe into the water.

http://www.mdt.co.uk/MDTSite/product//GCDP30912.htm

La Venexiana live in Corsica, singing selections from all books. I've uploaded two madrigals from that CD earlier in this thread, try those as a sample.

[Karl Henning]

Madrigal question

Is there a "greatest hits" type of compilation of the madrigals, consisting of 1 or 2 CDs?

I don't know if I'm going to like this music yet, so I'd like to just put a toe into the water.

I'd go with this one:

[asin]B0000042HQ[/asin]

It has the fourth and fifth books complete (with four other madrigals as "filler," from the seventh and eighth books), so his madrigal writing was competely assured, and the madrigals are all 5-vv. unaccompanied, designed for use at home by talented amateurs.

Mind you, I love the eighth book, it's a masterpiece;  for the novitiate, though, as a whole it gives a not representative idea of the madrigal, because of the stile accompagnato, &c.

[Willoughby earl of Itacarius]

I'd go with this one:

[asin]B0000042HQ[/asin]

It has the fourth and fifth books complete (with four other madrigals as "filler," from the seventh and eighth books), so his madrigal writing was competely assured, and the madrigals are all 5-vv. unaccompanied, designed for use at home by talented amateurs.

Mind you, I love the eighth book, it's a masterpiece;  for the novitiate, though, as a whole it gives a not representative idea of the madrigal, because of the stile accompagnato, &c.

I would agree about the performance.!

[KeithW]

The Monteverdi with Robert King also sounds great; I could use a good recording of the piece, since I don't have one.

--Bruce

Bruce

My go-to recording is the Gardiner:

[asin]B0000057DL[/asin]

The Herreweghe is also recommended - now available on a budget release:

[asin]B0031B7ERC[/asin]

I've heard good things about the Alessandrini - it arrived as part of the Naive box set which contained the Minkowski Bach - but I haven't had time yet to listen.

[asin]B000231VD0[/asin]

[bhodges]

Bruce

My go-to recording is the Gardiner:

[asin]B0000057DL[/asin]

The Herreweghe is also recommended - now available on a budget release:

[asin]B0031B7ERC[/asin]

I've heard good things about the Alessandrini - it arrived as part of the Naive box set which contained the Minkowski Bach - but I haven't had time yet to listen.

[asin]B000231VD0[/asin]

Keith, thanks so much for these suggestions. Looks hard to choose between them, since I have had excellent experiences with all three conductors elsewhere. Have a number of Gardiner's recordings, just heard Herreweghe and his group here around 2010 (part of the White Light Festival), and Alessandrini is my current fave for Baroque music.

--Bruce

[Karl Henning]

Un-shrink it!  When I was mulling over what to play the other night, that was the runner-up. Norman's version of the Four Last Songs is also a favorite. The Monteverdi with Robert King also sounds great; I could use a good recording of the piece, since I don't have one.

[asin]B000003D2F[/asin]

You're welcome ; )

[Que]

I've heard good things about the Alessandrini - it arrived as part of the Naive box set which contained the Minkowski Bach - but I haven't had time yet to listen.

[asin]B000231VD0[/asin]

Bruce, that's the one you need IMO.

Useful comparison could be Savall on Alia Vox.

Q

[bhodges]

Bruce, that's the one you need IMO.

Useful comparison could be Savall on Alia Vox.

Q

Rego, thanks for the additional Alessandrini vote. I really do like him in those Vivaldi recordings and in the Bach Brandenburgs.

But argh...there's also a Vespers with Savall? (Where's the "pulling hair out" icon?  )

--Bruce

[KeithW]

Rego, thanks for the additional Alessandrini vote. I really do like him in those Vivaldi recordings and in the Bach Brandenburgs.

But argh...there's also a Vespers with Savall? (Where's the "pulling hair out" icon?  )

--Bruce

And don't forget McCreesh and Parrott!  Both are very, very good.  The one that hasn't worked for me, so far, is a relatively recent recording from L'Arpeggiata.  Some of the singing was IMHO underwhelming.

[asin]B0046CUK4E[/asin]

Perhaps we need a blind listening of the Vespers