Madrigals Book.5 : La Compagniassa del Madrigale

La Compagnia del Madrigale's 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. Marenzio's 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 it's 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.