Monteverdi: Selva Morale E Spirituale

Monteverdi: Selva Morale E Spirituale

Monteverdi: Selva Morale E Spirituale
Our Price: $125.00
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: Music CD
See more CD details
Listen soundtracks from this album


(Click here)
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store

CD Details

Composer: Claudio Monteverdi
Conductor: Konrad Junghanel
Orchestra: Cantus Colln
Edition: Music CD
Format: Box set, Import
CD Release Date: 2001-09-11
Music Label: Harmonia Mundi Fr.
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
  1. Dixit Dominus II, motet for 8 voices, 2 violins & 4 violas/trombones (from Selva morale et spirituale), SV 264
  2. Salve Regina (III), for 3 voices (from Selva morale e spirituale), SV 285
  3. Confitebor tibi, Domine I, motet for 3 voices & 5-part chorus (from Salve morale e spirituale), SV 265
  4. Deus tuorum militum sors et corona, motet for alto, tenor, bass & 2 violins (from Selva morale et spirituale), SV 280
  5. Beatus Vir (I), motet for 6 voices, 2 violins, 3 violas/trombones and continuo (from Seva morale e spirituale), SV 268
  6. Salve Regina (II), for 2 voices (from Selva morale e spirituale), SV 284
  7. Laudate, pueri, Dominum (I), motet for 5 voices & 2 violins (from Selva morale e spirituale), SV 270
  8. Sanctorum meritis inclita gaudia (I), motet for soprano & 2 violins (from Selva morale e spirituale), SV 277
  9. Laudate Dominum, omnes gentes (II), motet for 8 voices & 2 violins (from Selva morale e spirituale), SV 273
  10. Salve Regina (II), for 2 voices (from Selva morale e spirituale), SV 284
  11. Magnificat (I), for 8 voices, 2 violins and 4 violas/trombones (from Selva morale e spirituale), SV 281
Music CD 2
  1. O ciechi il tanto affaticar che giova, motet for 5 voices & 2 violins (from Selva morale e spirituale), SV 252
  2. Voi ch'ascoltate in rime sparse, motet for 5 voices & 2 violins (from Selva morale e spirituale), SV 253
  3. Chi vol che m'innamori, motet for alto, tenor, bass & 3 strings (from Selva morale e spirituale), SV 256
  4. Iam moriar, mi Fili, motet for soprano (from Selva morale e spirituale), SV 288
  5. Mass for 4 voices da cappella, for 4 voices & organ (from Selva morale et spirituale), SV 257
  6. Mass for 4 voices da cappella, for 4 voices & organ (from Selva morale et spirituale), SV 257
  7. Mass for 4 voices da cappella, for 4 voices & organ (from Selva morale et spirituale), SV 257
  8. Mass for 4 voices da cappella, for 4 voices & organ (from Selva morale et spirituale), SV 257
  9. Mass for 4 voices da cappella, for 4 voices & organ (from Selva morale et spirituale), SV 257
  10. Mass for 4 voices da cappella, for 4 voices & organ (from Selva morale et spirituale), SV 257
  11. Crucifuxus, Et Resurrexit, Et iterum venturus est (alternative parts for Credo section of Mass SV257), SV 259-261
  12. Crucifuxus, Et Resurrexit, Et iterum venturus est (alternative parts for Credo section of Mass SV257), SV 259-261
  13. Crucifuxus, Et Resurrexit, Et iterum venturus est (alternative parts for Credo section of Mass SV257), SV 259-261
  14. Credidi propter quod locutus sum, motet for 8 voices (from Selva morale e spirituale), SV 275
  15. Laudate Dominum, omnes gentes (III), motet for 8 voices (from Selva morale e spirituale), SV 274
  16. Momento, et omnis mansuetudini eius, motet for 8 voices (from Selva morale e spirituale), SV 276
  17. Confitebor tibi, Domine III (Terzo alla francese), motet for 5 voices/or 1 voice & 4 strings (from Salve morale e spirituale), SV 267

Music reviews of Monteverdi: Selva Morale E Spirituale

Music Review: At the Foot of Mount Olympus, Gazing Up
Rating: 5 Stars

For once I'm daunted by the task of reviewing this stunning performance of one of the greatest monuments of music. I'm tempted just to say BUY IT AND LIVE! But I'll try to gather my thoughts, after having listened to the 3-CD set several times with increasing admiration.

Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) began to prepare his "soul" for death around 1630, gradually turning over his duties at St. Mark's to his students. It was the proper thing to do for a man his age in that age of ever-present mortality. The plague had taken 50,000 victims in Venice that winter. Monteverdi's musical productivity was on the wane. In 1632, he took holy orders as a priest, again a common step for a man confronting the final judgment.

But then, over the next decade-plus, Monteverdi produced two of the greatest operas of all time, his Ottavo Libro of madrigals, and the compendium of his vocal music that he titled Selva Morale e Spirituale - The Moral and Spiritual Forest. The dates of composition of the 37 pieces in the collection are mostly unknown; certainly some of them were from earlier stages of his life, and some were sparklingly new. Monteverdi always retained the option to write in the "first practice" style of Renaissance polyphony one day, and the "second practice" of Baroque basso continuo the next. Selva was not intended to be performed as a unified, sequential program of music. Four-hour concert programs were not yet in fashion in 1641, when Selva was published. The pieces are in fact quite miscellaneous. Konrad Junghaenal has addressed this problem by re-ordered the items of Selva into three concerts - 3 CDs. The first and third CDs are ordered as Vespers services, using roughly the liturgical order of the great and famous Vespers of 1610. The middle CD includes "everything else" but it also has a concert-worthy unity of affect.

Junghaenel has grouped the most 'morally serious' liturgical statements on his first Vespers program, and the most exuberant celebratory pieces, many in the triple-time ritornello style, on the second set, beginning with the "Gloria a 7," probably the most familiar piece from the whole Selva Morale e Spirituale. Both of these 'reconstructed' Vespers are magnificent as such, ending of course with 'magnificats.' Magnificat anima mea musicam magistri monteverdi! Like the Vespers of 1610, these settings of antiphons and psalms are highly varied in structure, voicing, and instrumentation, from a tenor solo with two violins obbligato (Sanctorum meritis primo) to an eight-voice concertato with two violins and four trombones plus continuo (Dixit Dominus primo). The trombones are those of Concerto Palatino; the cornettos of that incomparable wind band - Bruce Dickey and Doron Sherwin - get their licks at other pieces.

The madrigals recorded on the second CD are not all explicitly sacred texts. They are the "moral" items of the Selva Morale, setting poems by Petrarch and others that suggest the vanity of earthly love and pleasure... in lovely pleasurable tones, of course. This CD also includes the only four-voice polyphonic mass that has survived of the many that Monteverdi may have composed. The Mass is pure 16th C polyphony, reminiscent of Lasso or Gombert. It has also been recorded by The Sixteen, under Harry Christophers, a performance I've already reviewed. The two performances are strikingly different, and both excellent. Junghaenel's version is more Baroque and operatic in affect.

Portions of the Selva have been recorded by other ensembles, notably the brilliant performance on one CD, by William Christie and Les Arts Florissants, of many of the liveliest pieces in the collection. This performance by Cantus Coelln and Concerto Palatino is the only complete Selva. Completeness wouldn't be much of a recommendation if the performance were not rich and satisfying, but it is! The twelve vocal soloists are all at their technical and interpretive peaks, even including soprano Johanna Koslowsky, whose voice I have found cold on other recordings. Here she sings like an angel by Raffaelo. The violins, viola, violone, and gamba spread their obbligato embellishments like gilded haloes around the singers' voices. The trombones - narrow-bore instruments sometimes called sackbutts - have the clear, voice-like timbre that this music requires, rather than the blaring obtrusiveness of later-period horns. Altogether this is probably Junghaenel's finest performance, in which he has considered and lovingly shaped every detail. Why, he must adore Monteverdi almost as much as I do!

Postscript, months later:
Good is still good! But this is no longer my favorite, recommended performance of La Selva. That honor goes unreservedly to the 4-CD set by Ensemble Elyma, conducted by Gabriel Garrido. I've just reviewed that set.
More Monteverdi: Selva Morale E Spirituale free music reviews:
1

Classical CDs
Music Genres
Bestsellers in Classical CDs
Winterscapes ImageWinterscapes
by London Philharmonic
Prophetic Voice; Published: 2000-07; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $2.75
Price in other shops: $6.99
The Queen, the Bear, & the Bumblebee ImageThe Queen, the Bear, & the Bumblebee
by Dini Petty
Children's Group; Published: 2001-03; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $13.38
Price in other shops: $13.98
Beethoven Lives Upstairs Cdr ImageClassical Kids - Beethoven Lives Upstairs Cdr
Release date: 2000-04-05; Music CD
Best price: $24.98
Tchaikovsky (Life and Works (Naxos)) ImageTchaikovsky (Life and Works (Naxos))
by Malcolm Sinclair, Jeremy Siepmann
Naxos; Published: 2003-11; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $35.99
Jose Carreras - Jubileum Concert [VHS] ImageJose Carreras - Jose Carreras - Jubileum Concert [VHS]
Sling Shot; Release date: 2000-04-18; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $5.86
Price in other shops: $9.99
Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker / Nureyev, Park, Royal Ballet [VHS] ImageTchaikovsky - The Nutcracker / Nureyev, Park, Royal Ballet [VHS]
Kultur Video; Release date: 1997-09-09; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $29.89
Price in other shops: $29.95
Lonely Town Lonley Street / Sergeant's Early Dream [VHS] ImageRambert Dance Company - Lonely Town Lonley Street / Sergeant's Early Dream [VHS]
Kultur Video; Release date: 1997-10-28; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $14.99
Price in other shops: $29.95
Winter Music: Composing the North ImageWinter Music: Composing the North
by John Luther Adams
Wesleyan; Published: 2004-11-10; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $25.23
Price in other shops: $25.95
Puccini - La Fanciulla del West / Santi, Domingo, Neblett, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS] ImagePuccini - La Fanciulla del West / Santi, Domingo, Neblett, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS]
Kultur Video; Release date: 1999-05-25; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $6.38
Price in other shops: $29.95
Verdi - Falstaff / Giulini, Bruson, Ricciarelli, Nucci, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS] ImageVerdi - Falstaff / Giulini, Bruson, Ricciarelli, Nucci, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS]
Kultur Video; Release date: 1999-05-25; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $12.95
Price in other shops: $29.95
Books | DVD Video | VHS Video | Health and Personal Care | Digital Cameras and Photo | Kitchen and Housewares | Tools and Hardware | Sports Equipment | Dresses shirts shoes apparel pants
Copyright © 2004-2007 music-hills.com
Google
 
Web music-hills.com
Compare prices and find music notes for more than one million Music CD titles