Search - La Compagnia del Madrigale :: Luca Marenzio: Quinti libro di Madrigali - A Sei Voci

La Compagnia del Madrigales subtle yet powerful advocacy of great Italian madrigals from around the turn of the 17th c. continues with a further exploration of music by Luca Marenzio his Quinto Libro di Madrigali a sei voci from 1591 a composer capable of dominating the entire range of emotional expressions: joy, pain, sensuality, the evocation of Nature, and so on. Previous recordings on Glossa have demonstrated an uncommon response to the genre by this Italian ensemble: a fresh approach to each miniature it essays, combined with a wide-ranging awareness of the repertory. Marenzios Quinto Libro, dedicated to an Italian nobleman, is a wedding album full of the latest musical and poetical techniques the Canzon de baci, with words by Guarini, for example, is a marvel of its kind. However, below the surface polish of elegant and stylized Late Renaissance vocal music lurks a vivid and dramatic tale, conjured up by Marco Bizzarini in a booklet essay detailing crimes of honor and passion, hired assassins and feuds between powerful aristocratic families.