Gramophone Awards 2023
Finalist - Choral

Gramophone Magazine
January 2023
Editor's Choice

Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini

Monteverdi: Settimo libro de' madrigali
Marini, B: Settimo libro de' madrigali: Balletto Secondo à 3. & à 4 – Entrata grave

With this recording of Book VII of Claudio Monteverdi’s madrigals (1619, Venice), Rinaldo Alessandrini and his Concerto Italiano devote themselves to a love theme with a very pastoral edge the composer particularly savoured.

The Italian harpsichordist and conductor once again offers us a collection of Monteverdi madrigals of the highest quality, in which the poems not only lead the singing, but also determine the arrangement of the madrigals by poet.

Inspired by “the hitherto unpublished stamp of a literary intention” indicated by the composer at the start of the collection, Rinaldo Alessandrini and his ensemble, accustomed
to enlightening dramatics, offer a sparkling polyphony varying from one to six voices, in a wide range of pitches.