I Fagiolini

Monteverdi – Fire and Ashes

 

 

 

Monteverdi series No.2

“The singing and playing are wonderfully sensitive and acute. It’s classy, provocative stuff.” The Guardian

“Vorrei baciarti, o Filli” – a couple enfolded in delicious embrace –
“Shall I kiss first your lips, or your eyes?”

Vorrei baciarti, o Filli

 

Monteverdi’s madrigals are a theatre of the senses: touches, glances, scents, the textures of fabrics, of lips and skin, the shining gold of hair, the deep blue of eyes, the sounds and vistas of nature, the coolness of water, the sun’s warmth, the ecstatic agony of fire and ice. The second volume in I Fagiolini’s Monteverdi conspectus traces this evolution from the early Mantuan a cappella madrigals that made his reputation to the late concerted madrigals of the 1630s written for the Viennese court – styles seemingly worlds apart, yet both forged by the same desire, to confront and master afresh in each new work the ever-present tension between mere art and real life.

“Hypnotically dolorous, sung in honeyed tones, retreating into an almost religious, self-pitying ecstasy.” The Times

Ballo – Tirsi e Clori

“I Fagiolini are surely unequalled in their ability to project Monteverdi’s madrigals as miniature dramas… Such graphic outpourings of overwhelming emotion are perfectly complemented by more lighthearted pieces.” The Daily Telegraph

“This is a disc to be relished as much for its sudden contrasts as for the ensemble’s unfailingly spirited, idiomatic performances. After the greedy energy of ‘Ardo, avvampo’ the desolation of ‘Rimante in pace’ is doubly arresting… In terms of expressive range, I Fagiolini are without equal.” The Independent on Sunday

Rimante in pace (Book III)

 

Buy from Amazon or Chandos

Chandos CHAN 0749
Released February 2008