Monteverdi: Night. Stories of Lovers and Warriors Concerto Italiano & Rinaldo Alessandrini

• Claudio Monteverdi (1567 - 1643):
• 1 Orfeo, SV 318, Act III: Sinfonia 01:50
• 2 Madrigali guerrieri, et amorosi, Book VIII, SV 147a: Hor che’l ciel e la terra e’l vento tace 05:28
• 3 Madrigali guerrieri, et amorosi, Book VIII, SV 147a: Così sol d'una chiara fonte viva 05:00
• 4 Madrigali guerrieri, et amorosi, Book VIII: Sinfonia 00:43
• 5 Madrigali guerrieri, et amorosi, Book VIII, SV 153: Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda (Rappresentativo con quattro viole) 23:02
• 6 Madrigali guerrieri, et amorosi, Book III, SV 72: Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, Vivrò fra i miei tormenti e le mie cure (Lamento di Tancredi) 01:23
• 7 Madrigali guerrieri, et amorosi, Book III, SV 72: Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, Ma dove, oh lasso me! Dove restaro (A cinque voci) 02:49
• 8 Madrigali guerrieri, et amorosi, Book III, SV 72: Lo pur verrò là dove sète, e voi (A cinque voci) 02:30
• 9 Il ritorno di Ulisse in patria, SV 325, Act II, Scene 5: Sinfonia 00:46
• 10 Madrigali guerrieri, et amorosi, Book VIII, SV 163: Non havea Febo ancora recato al mondo il dì (Lamento della Ninfa) 01:30
• 11 Madrigali guerrieri, et amorosi, Book VIII, SV 163: Amor, Dicea (Lamento della Ninfa) 02:56
• 12 Madrigali guerrieri, et amorosi, Book VIII, SV 163: Sì tra sdegnosi pianti (Lamento della Ninfa) 00:43
• 13 Madrigali guerrieri, et amorosi, Book VII. Concerto, SV 138: Al lume delle stelle 05:11
• 14 Il ritorno di Ulisse in patria, SV 325, Act I, Scene 2: Sinfonia 00:32
• 15 Madrigali guerrieri, et amorosi, Book VI, SV 110: A dio, Florida bella, il cor piagato 04:23
• 16 Madrigali guerrieri, et amorosi, Book VII. Concerto: Sinfonia 01:06
• 17 Madrigali guerrieri, et amorosi, Book II, SV 51: Ecco mormorar l'onde 02:48
• 18 Scherzi musicali, SV 233: Quando l'alba in oriente 05:34
• Total Runtime 01:08:14

Info for Monteverdi: Night. Stories of Lovers and Warriors

For years, Rinaldo Alessandrini and the Concerto Italiano ensemble have been world-wide ambassadors of our country’s grand vocal tradition. Their return to the Quartetto this season is dedicated to Monteverdi, one of the fathers of modern music. Among the nearly infinite Monteverdian themes to choose among, they have opted for Night, an ideal backdrop for amorous passions and ecstatic visions. As one of the most splendid madrigals from the Seventh Book declares, amorous combats take place by starlight, as, for instance, the one between Tancredi and Clorinda: this fulcrum of the new style was propounded by the composer and defended by him, in opposition to academic doctrine, in the preface to the Fifth Book. Night also receives the nymph’s laments about lost love, as well as the mixed sounds “of sighs, of kisses and of words” exchanged between Florida and her lover. The torment and sweetness of amorous nights dissolve, in the end, with the breaking of dawn in the east, which is splendid – but not as splendid as the beauty of the poet’s lady, according to Gabriello Chiabrera’s Mannerist paragon, set to music by Monteverdi in the Scherzi musicali for three voices.

Concerto Italiano
Rinaldo Alessandrini, conductor

Concerto Italiano
Rinaldo Alessandrini’s Concerto Italiano was born in 1984. Its history overlaps with that of the revival of early music in Italy. Monteverdi, Bach and Vivaldi were the main pins over which the group has been able to renew the language of ancient music, revealing completely a new aesthetic and rhetorical aspects. After 33 years the recordings of Concerto Italiano are still considered by critics and public, versions of reference, reflecting the definitive meaning that the group has been able to give to his efforts and his achievements.

Concerto Italiano have appeared in Utrecht (Oude Muziek Festival), Rotterdam (De Doelen, De Singel), Antwerpen e Leuven (Flandern Festival), London (Lufthansa Festival, Queen Elisabeth Hall), Edimburgh (Edimburgh Festival) Aldeburgh, Glasgow, Wien (Konzerthaus), Graz (Styriarte), Innsbruck, Amsterdam (Concertgebouw), Bruxelles (Festival de Wallonie, Flandern Festival, Societè Philarmonique), Madrid (Liceo de Camara), Barcelona (Festival de Musica Antigua, Palau de la Musica), Valencia, Bilbao, Sevilla, S.Sebastian, Salamanca, Santander, Oslo (Chamber Music Festival), Bergen, Vantaa, Turku, Paris (Citè de la Musique, Theatre de la Ville, Theatre des Champs Elysèes), Beaune, Lyon, Montpellier (Festival de Radio France), Metz (Arsenal), Ambronay, Saintes, Chase-Dieux, Köln (Conservatorio e WDR), Stuttgart, Darmstadt, Roma (Accademia di S. Cecilia, Accademia Filarmonica Romana), Milano (Musica e Poesia a S. Maurizio), Ravenna, Ferrara, Torino, Spoleto (Festival dei Due Mondi), Palermo (Festival Scarlatti), Perugia, Bologna (Bologna Festival), Napoli (Teatro S. Carlo e Associazione Scarlatti), Istanbul, Tel Aviv, Gerusalemme, Warsaw, Krakow, Buenos Aires (Teatro Colon), Rio de Janeiro (Teatro S. Paolo), New York (Metropolitan Museum, Lincoln Center), Washington (Library of Congress), Tokyo etc.

Concerto Italiano has been recently involved in the complete Monteverdi opera cycle at La Scala (Milano) and Opera Garnier (Paris) during 2009/2016 with the stage director Bob Wilson. The ensemble made in 2016 its debut in Australia and New Zealand performing Monteverdi Vespers. The group has also been touring with RIAS Kammerchor a monumental program of roman sacred music and A. Scarlatti oratorio “Caino”. In 2017 they will be touring Monteverdi music all over the world, performing 1610 Vespers, Orfeo and Poppea, including China and Japan, Australia, New York (debut concert at Carnegie Hall) and many European cities.

Concerto Italiano records regularely for Naïve. Recent releases include Monteverdi’s “Orfeo”, a collection of sacred music by A. Scarlatti, Monteverdi’s complete 8th Book of Madrigals and Bach’s Brandeburg Concertos. Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers and “Selva Morale e Spirituale”. The impressive array of critical awards received for these recordings confirms the outstanding quality of their performances, now recognised as a unique force in the interpretation of seventeenth and eighteenth century music.

Booklet for Monteverdi: Night. Stories of Lovers and Warriors