Monteverdi: Salve Regina II a 2 voci, due Tenore

Claudio Monteverdi and Girolamo Frescobaldi were two of the most influential musical figures in 17th-century Italy; while the former's boundary-pushing madrigals, operas and sacred works changed the course of Baroque vocal music irrevocably, the latter was one of the first – and most prominent – composers to devote serious attention to composing for the keyboard.

This new recording celebrates the influence that these two composers continue to exert over performers and audiences today -- and the fascination that their music inspires -- through a selection of motets and instrumental pieces, performed with precision and authority by Il Pegaso and Maurizio Croci. Of particular interest are a handful of new discoveries: three Marian antiphons by Monteverdi, preserved in a music print held at the Biblioteka Uniwersytecka in Wroclaw, Poland, and pieces drawn from a recently-unearthed notebook of Frescobaldi's, including early stages of extant works.

With the addition of several better known compositions, this intriguing collection illuminates some less familiar aspects of both composers' oeuvres, and places recent musicological discoveries within reach of listeners. In their debut recording, the new ensemble Il Pegaso, led by Maurizio Croci, deliver performances invested with passion and expertise.

Other information:

- A rare and exciting opportunity to hear recently-discovered pieces by Monteverdi and Frescobaldi, performed by experts in 17th-century Italian music.

- The debut recording by new ensemble Il Pegaso.

- Recorded in February 2012.

Of his rich and prolific legacy, Claudio Monteverdi, born in Cremona in 1567, is particularly celebrated for his innovations; one of the most influential figures of 16th- and 17th-century music, he extended the expressive possibilities of his craft in an inventive blend of the old and new. This 3-disc set is a superb overview of his long and varied career, touching on each of the genres that he transformed – choral music, the madrigal, secular song and opera.

Monteverdi’s commitment to effective text expression is apparent throughout the collection, where it is fully explored in enduring performances led by Angelo Ephrikian. The secular songs and madrigals – drawn primarily from the Quarto scherzo delle ariose vaghezze of 1624, Scherzi musicali of 1632 and the posthumously published Ninth Book of Madrigals – reveal the composer’s experimentation with melody, dissonance and form in response to his texts. His sensitivity to drama and emotion is particularly evident in Lamento d’Arianna, which has been renowned for its ability to move audiences. Even the choral works are permeated by a sense of drama; the Mass for four voices and Salve Regina No.2, for example, carry all the hallmarks and expressive inflections of his secular madrigals.

From his years as a court composer to his time as maestro di cappella of San Marco in Venice, Monteverdi’s career was defined by his revolutionary approach to musical expression. This 3-disc collection is an engaging exploration of some of his most significant developments, and a fitting tribute to a composer who has been described as the ‘creator of modern music’.

New booklet note by Berta Joncus, which explores Monteverdi’s career and the compositions in this collection.