Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.)
Very little is known of the life and work of Simone Balsamino from Urbino; his activity, as far as we can tell, lasted but four years: from 1590 to 1596. His first publication was the volume of Novellette, a collection of six-voice madrigals dedicated to Francesco Maria II Della Rovere, which includes a spiritual madrigal and seventeen madrigals derived from Tasso’s Aminta. Balsamino’s style appears at the same time in keeping with the music of his day and experimental in his use of both monody and polyphony, which are employed in such a way as to give emphasis to declamation.
The program is completed by the articulated and complex Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda by Claudio Monteverdi, first staged in Venice’s Palazzo Mocenigo in 1624 and included in the 8th volume of Madrigali Guerrieri et Amorosi con alcuni opuscoli di genere rappresentativo, published in 1638. The works are interpreted by the Madrigalists of Radio Svizzera Italiana conducted by Diego Fasolis, who are specialists of this type of repertoire.
Simone Balsamino: Novellette a 6 voci
No. 1. Vorro veder
No. 2. Nove Aminta
No. 3. Quale ardir
No. 4. Bisogno a maggior prova
No. 5. Orsu squoprimi
No. 6. Dura conclusion
No. 7. Se a mio senno farai
No. 8. Non sara dunque ver
No. 9. Dunque tu l'ameresti
No. 10. Perche non osi
No. 11. Gia per lung'uso
No. 12. Dunque andar non vogliamo
No. 13. Credi tu dunque
No. 14. E s'ella vuol
No. 15. Ecco tu chiedi
No. 16. Tu taci
No. 17. Canto e piango
No. 18. Locar sopra gli abissi
No. 19. Non piu guerra
No. 20. Picciola e l'ape, "Monologo di Satiro"
Claudio Monteverdi: Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda
Tancredi, che Clorinda un uomo stima
Notte, che nel profondo e oscuro seno
Non schivar, non parlar
Gia dell'ultima stella il raggio langue
Ma ecco mai l'ora fatal e giunta
Click on any of the works listed above for alternative recordings.