Fantastic review of Alessandrini’s work on his recording of Marenzio’s Madrigali

Stephen Eddins wrote an excellent review of Alessandrini’s recording of Marenzio’s Madrigali on the Allmusic website. Rinaldo Alessandrini also recorded works from Vivaldi (Gloria, Armida) and Handel’s Arie per basso with Lorenzo Regazzo. Below is an extract from the review.

“Marenzio wrote over 400 madrigals, and this collection, a reissue of two Opus 111 releases, includes a healthy sampling of almost 50, written during the composer's most fruitful period, between 1580 and his death in 1599. Four-, five-, and six-part madrigals are represented, some a cappella and some accompanied, and there are several instrumental arrangements of the works made by composers of Marenzio's generation. Using texts by a variety of poets, they are remarkable for the emotional depth and inventiveness of the text setting, the sure handling of harmonies that are sometimes vertiginously chromatic, and their broad expressive range. The majority are melancholy meditations on lost love, but Marenzio finds infinite ways to express anguished intensity. Rinaldo Alessandrini leads the singers and a small instrumental ensemble of Concerto Italiano in impassioned performances. The singers have distinctive, lovely voices, and each sings with warmth and transparent expressiveness, but at the same time, their blend is gorgeously rich and smooth, an ideal combination for these madrigals. Naïve's sound is immaculate and wonderfully present. The collection makes a terrific introduction to Marenzio's work and should be of strong interest to fans of Renaissance vocal music and superlative ensemble singing.”

By Stephen Eddins

If you wish to read the article fully, please visit the Allmusic website.