Monteverdi - Teatro d’Amore
L’Arpeggiata / Pluhar
Virgin Classics 236 1402

Release date January 2009

Did Monteverdi invent jazz? Listen to track two on this disc and prepare to be surprised! It may be one of the more extrovert interpretations around, but that is a hallmark of baroque harpist Christina Pluhar’s approach to music – experimenting and improvising, searching for colours which reflect the voice of the chosen singer and communicate the emotion in the music. Pluhar directs the French-based ensemble L’Arpeggiata, a group specialising in French, Italian and Neapolian music of the 17th century. Their recordings on the Naïve and Alpha labels have earned them a growing fan-base. For this disc, the ensemble’s first release on the Virgin label, soprano Nuria Rial and counter-tenor Philippe Jaroussky are the main singers in a compilation of secular music by Monteverdi. The programme draws on several works for varying numbers of singers from Monteverdi’s Seventh and Eighth Books of Madrigals, and includes a solo and duet from L’incoronazione di Poppea, enriched by a number of instrumental sinfonias and balli plucked from many sources. It works well on several levels: it’s a hugely enjoyable disc to listen to with no prior knowledge of the contents, but as Pluhar’s very accessible booklet essay makes clear, each vocal item has been chosen for very specific reasons. Thus Zefiro torna that ends the programme is the first vocal duet over a ciaccona bass in musical history; the Lamento della Ninfa was the first time a passacaglia bass had been utilised in the form of a lamento; Si dolce e ‘l tormento (exquisitely sung by Jaroussky) is written in such a way that it produced harmonies that were forbidden (and unprecedented) at the time; and so on. The disc was recorded in Utrecht in 2006, where this programme was given in concert. The virtuosity of the instrumentalists and singers, the infectious joy and catchy rhythms of the faster numbers and the beauty of expression of the slower songs should win this group (and Monteverdi) many more fans.

Anne McAlister