The madrigals of Claudio Monteverdi are, rightly, more often performed singly than in publication sets, which were not intended for sequential performance. However, a performance of the fourth book, published in 1603, is useful, for it shows the dramatic shifts in musical style occurring in Italy during the years on either side of 1600. Some of these pieces, like No. 20, Piagn'e sospira e quandi caldi raggi, are in the densely chromatic style of the late 16th century, perfected by such composers as Carlo Gesualdo and ...
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The madrigals of Claudio Monteverdi are, rightly, more often performed singly than in publication sets, which were not intended for sequential performance. However, a performance of the fourth book, published in 1603, is useful, for it shows the dramatic shifts in musical style occurring in Italy during the years on either side of 1600. Some of these pieces, like No. 20, Piagn'e sospira e quandi caldi raggi, are in the densely chromatic style of the late 16th century, perfected by such composers as Carlo Gesualdo and Luzzasco Luzzaschi, but there are many signs that Monteverdi was looking for a new way and was paying attention to the experiments that led to the birth of opera. Listen to Ohimè, se tanto amate, where director Philippe Herreweghe wisely accompanies his Collegium Vocale Gent, here a sextet, with the chitarrone of Michele Pasotti. The whole modern kind of musical drama seems contained in this beautiful piece in miniature. Herreweghe's singers strike a nice balance between that emotionally...
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