Monteverdi has just been appointed "maestro della musica" of the court of Mantua. He published Book IV in 1603, but several of the madrigals it contains date from the late 1590s. Monteverdi extends and exacerbates the new expressive powers he discovered in Book III.

Dedicated to the members of a literary and debating society in Ferrara, its contents show all the evidence of the composer's experience of the extraordinary musical and literary resources of the Ferranese and Mantuan courts during the 1590s. Originally written for performance before a select audience by an ensemble of professional virtuoso singers, these madrigals, many of which are set to the sensuous, emotional and epigrammatic verses of Guarini and Tasso, demonstrate Monteverdi's seemingly inexhaustible ability to unite words and music in expressively effective ways.

A complete and profound understanding of textual nuance is, then, central to any successful performance and here the Concerto Italiano begins with an obvious and considerable advantage over any group of non-Italians. Some of the finest madrigals in the Fourth Book are those involving direct speech, which allowed Monteverdi to make full use of the court virtuosi, famed for their abilities to combine clear declamation with dramatic gestures and subtle shadings of dynamics and speed. In general the Concerto Italiano have taken the combined messages of music and history to heart; these are performances infused with a flexible approach to tempo and strong projection of text geared to a determination to allow each detail of the words to speak with due force.

Director: Paul AGNEW (Music Conductor)
Cast: Les Arts Florissants, Maud Gnidzaz: Soprano, Francesca Boncompagni: Soprano, Lucile Richardot: Contralto, Paul Agnew: Tenor, Sean Clayton: Tenor, Lisandro Abadie: Bass