Search - Claudio Monteverdi, Emmanuelle Haim, Le Concert d'Astree :: Monteverdi - Combattimento / Ciofi, Villazón, Lehtipuu, Le Concert d'Astrée, Haïm (W/DVD)

Very beautiful

Queen Margo | Arlington | 02/18/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I bought the recording because it received an excellent review in the BBC Music Magazine and I usually agree with their ratings. I enjoyed it immensely. Subsequently, I read other reviews on the Internet and found that some people complained that Villazon and Ciofi do not have the "right" voices for Monteverdi. That may be true. However, I own a lot of early music recordings with "appropriate" voices and find that after a while they all sound a lot alike. So, I welcome Haim's fresh approach."

Baroque music-who would have thought?

M. schaecher | indaianapolis | 02/05/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Being a huge,huge fan of Rolando Villazon I bought this CD just because I love him so much. I was surprised to find that this music is very good to listen to. It can't top the opera arias but there is something about it that sounds like Gregorian chant and being a Catholic I miss the latin so I found that I did really enjoy this. You should watch the DVD first that comes with the CD and you will not be so intimidated by it if this is your first foray into baroque music as it was mine. Rolando is a very funny guy anyway and his humor helps to qualm the stuffiness you would expect{but don't get} with this type of recording. You can almost imagine that you are in a great room and these madrigals are being performed for the first time in front of royalty or leading citizens of the day-what a feeling to be transported back to that time."

You can't build furniture with a chain saw.

Giordano Bruno | Wherever I am, I am. | 04/16/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"There are reasons for preferring lighter and more athletic voices for Monteverdi, and they have nothing to do with purism. The best way to make my case is to recommend a comparison. Get the Archiv disk of Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorida by Musica Antiqua Koln, Reinhard Goebbel director, or even better, any of the La Fenice recordings of "The Heritage of M onteverdi." To my quite impure ears, this disc under review sounds galumphing and un-integrated."