Monteverdi: Combattimento

Monteverdi: Combattimento

Monteverdi: Combattimento
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Composer: Claudio Monteverdi
Performer: Le Concert d'Astrée
Performer: Emmanuelle Haïm
Performer: Patrizia Ciofi
Performer: Rolando Villazón
Performer: Topi Lehtipuu
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2007-01-16
Music Label: Virgin Classics
Soundtracks:
  1. Combattimento Di Tancredi E Clorinda
  2. Interrotte Speranze, Eterna Fede
  3. Ecco Di Dolci Raggi Il Sol Armato
  4. Si Dolce E 'L Tormento
  5. Ohime Ch'io Cado, Ohime
  6. Perche Se M'odiavi
  7. Et E Pur Dunque Vero
  8. Quel Sguardo Sdegnosetto
  9. Maledetto Sia L'aspetto
  10. Piu Lieto Il Guardo
  11. Tempro La Cetra
  12. Tornate, O Cari Baci
  13. Eri Gia Tutta Mia

Music reviews of Monteverdi: Combattimento

Music Review: Monteverdi on turbo - certainly an exciting approach
Rating: 4 Stars

Tenors Rolando Villazon and Topi Lehtipuu, with the minor contribution of soprano Patrizia Ciofi, perform Il Combattimento and other works (mostly duets between the two tenors) with considerable panache and a very richly-voiced approach. It's exciting - particularly initially - and certainly demonstrates that Monteverdi singing repays fuller-voiced performances.

But this recording became less satisfying the more I listened. I think it was by the third track that I became convinced this was not working perfectly for me. It's not that the singing isn't lovely - it is. It's not that these singers are not great singers - they are (I admire all three performers, but particularly the two tenors).

The problem - and I suppose it's one that only specialists or lovers of early music will perceive as a problem - is that the singing doesn't as a general rule respect baroque style.

This results in the occasional feeling that the singing is overblown or slightly insensitive. I don't mean "lacking in passion" - on the contrary. It's wonderfully passionate! That's what I love about this recording... but it's not stylistically passionate, and that is what I DON'T like about it.

It's mostly Villazon who gives me this impression. I adore his voice - this is a terrific tenor, and he shapes and phrases intelligently. He certainly knows what he's singing in terms of the meaning. But it really is the style that is lacking. Baroque singing DOES call for style, just as, for instance, I wouldn't sing Verdi in the same way that I sing Lully. I wouldn't sing German Lieder in the same way that I sing German mediaeval troubadour songs. Style DOES matter.

In my opinion, Topi Lehtipuu is almost ideal for this repertoire, though. His voice is a little more golden than Villazon (who's slightly darker in timbre) and he uses his voice with more lightness of touch. I believe that in singing Monteverdi, one has to have that - the lightness of touch, so that one can vary the colours and shades in a baroque fashion. One must think of oneself as a viol, able to shade and change the vocal weight just as the bow is drawn across the strings of that elegant and sensuous instrument. It's not enough to be in magnificent voice, and to sing beautifully. That is certainly performed here. It is truly the style that makes this recording not entirely satisfying.

I think had Villazon been given some training in baroque style, he'd have been superb in this. But from what I've heard, Haïm did not want it to sound baroque. And this is something that is puzzling. It gives the impression that Ms Haïm thinks the baroque cannot convey passion or intensity without being transplanted from its intrinsic style, and that is simply not the case!

For some magnificent baroque singing that will melt your heart, get hold of Paul Agnew singing pretty much anything... Richard Croft in the recent Orfeo (Monteverdi)... Delunsch singing Poppea (Monteverdi)... and so on. It exemplifies what I mean.

There are also some superb recordings of Monteverdi duets conducted by Alan Curtis - he also uses excellent full-voiced tenors, but they're well trained in the style and they know how to sing in the style that Monteverdi himself delineated.

For non early music specialists and for general listeners, I think you'll enjoy this recording. In spite of my view that it's sung in a Romantic (19th century) style rather than in baroque style, it's still beautiful.
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Description of Monteverdi: Combattimento

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This surprising CD may cause some raised eyebrows from Monteverdi purists, but they are sure to be taken in and convinced by the performances. Emmanuelle Haim is an early-Baroque specialist who believes in a full-bodied approach to the repertoire--no white-voiced, lightly-touching-the-music for her--and she makes it work without ever distorting or going against what is on the printed page. This recording is her boldest yet. Haim uses the warm-toned young tenor Rolando Villazon and soprano Patrizia Ciofi, both known for their roles in 19th-century opera, and Topi Lehtipuu, a fuller-voiced tenor than usual for Monteverdi in some of the composer's most dramatic works, and each comes brilliantly to life. The long Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda is an exciting narrative of war, death, and forgiveness. With Villazon as the narrator and Haim's instrumentalists offering big-boned playing, the result is almost cinematic. The shorter pieces are just as effective, with Patrizia Ciofi's expressive "Ohimé" opening the mock lament "Ohimé ch'io cado" with remarkable emphasis and Topi Lehtipuu as involved and musical in his solos as he is duetting with Villazon. This CD will make early-music people appreciate operatic voices and opera lovers pay more attention to 17th-century music. A breathtaking disc. --Robert Levine

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