Monteverdi, C.: Madrigals, Book 2 (Il Secondo Libro De' Madr

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 engine