Monteverdi: Madrigali Libro VIII

Le Nuove Musiche, led by acclaimed director Krijn Koetsveld, continue with their exceptional series of Claudio Monteverdi's complete madrigals. This time they turn their attention to Book VIII, the intriguingly entitled Madrigali guerrieri et amorosi (Madrigals of Love and War), published four years after Monteverdi's death. These two contrasting themes divide the book into two halves; first war, then love. There's more corssover than might be expected: the first half of warlike madrigals ends with the tragic Il combattiment odi Tancredi e Clorinda, based on Torquato Tasso's poem which sees Tancredi fighting a disguised Clorida, fatally injuring her before realizing that it is a fair maiden rather than a male foe. Despite nearing the end of his life, Monteverdi still demonstrates his knack for innovation, experimenting freely with the gentre of the madrigal in the new context of the basso continuo. Le Nuove Musiche's approach to Monteverdi is an innovative one: to bring the past into t