Monteverdi's Madrigals

with Concerto Italiano & Rinaldo Alessandrini

In the early 1600s, Claudio Monteverdi altered the course of music history by rethinking the relationship between words and music. In his madrigals – secular songs of love and loss for combined voices – he let his music be controlled completely by text, to be filled with its clarity, shaped by its consonants and syllables and infused with its emotional depth.

The result is a collection of ‘inexhaustibly beguiling masterpieces’ (The Guardian) – visceral and sensual works whose stories still feel powerful, truthful and relevant today.

No ensemble on earth has a closer relationship to Monteverdi’s madrigals than Concerto Italiano, who with conductor Rinaldo Alessandrini have recently completed a 28-year project to record the works in their entirety. Gramophone magazine described the results as ‘riveting and incredibly stylish’.

Alessandrini and Concerto Italiano come to Bergen for a performance of highlights from Monteverdi’s madrigal output at Håkonshallen. This is music of deep intimacy and high expression that delights in the sound and style of the Italian language as much as it plumbs the depths of human emotion.

Image on top: Rinaldo Alessandrini. Photo: Emilie Moysson

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Contributors

• Concerto Italiano:

• Monica Piccinini soprano

• Sonia Tedla soprano

• Andres Montilla alt

• Raffaele Giordani tenor

• Roberto Rilievi tenor

• Gabriele Lombardi bass

• Rinaldo Alessandrini cembalo

Works

• Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643)
  From Madrigals, books 1–8

• Sweet and tender kisses (Book 1)
  Baci soavi e cari 

   

• The mouth whence the bitterest words (Book 2)
  La bocca, onde l’asprissime parole

   

• Remain here in peace – part one (Book 3)
  Rimanti in pace – prima parte

• Then he, with death engraved – part two (Book 3)
  Ond’ei, di morte la sua faccia impressa – seconda parte

   

• I am a young woman (Book 4)
  «Io mi son giovinetta»

   

• That tyrant, Love, is all-powerful (Book 5)
  Troppo ben può questo tiranno, amore 

   

• Zephyr returns (Book 6)
  Zefiro torna

   

• Fair, amid its hidden thorns (Book 7)
  Vaga su spina ascosa 

   

• Sweetest nightingale (Book 8)
  Dolcissimo uscignolo

• Why deprive me of my love (Book 1)
  A che tòrmi il ben mio

   

• Now the waves murmur (Book 2)
  Ecco mormorar l’onde

   

• That I could not love you, my darling? (Book 3)
  Ch’io non t’ami, cor mio?

   

• My soul, forgive – part one (Book 4)
  Anima mia, perdona – prima parte

   

• For if you are my heart – part two (Book 4)
  Che se tu se’ il cor mio – seconda parte

   

• Alas! How from just one lovely courteous glance (Book 5)
  Ahi, com’a un vago sol cortese giro

   

• I yield, Ergasto cried (Book 6)
  Batto – qui pianse Ergasto

   

• I am a pretty young shepherdess (Book 7)
  Io son pur vezzosetta pastorella

   

• He who would be happy and light of heart (Book 8)
  Chi vol haver felice e lieto il core

   

• And so, little by little (Book 5)
  E così a poco a poco