The notes begin with the question of the date of composition. The 1611 print claimed that the madrigals had been written 15 years earlier, which would place their origin in Ferrara, but commentators have tended to place them in the tormented years after he returned to Naples. The earlier date, of course, would serve to establish the composer’s priority in the Mannerist style that flourished around the turn of the century, his originality against imitators. (These same points were made in the notes to Rooley’s version of this book, in which the growth in style over the Fourth Book is minimized.) These madrigals remain astonishingly expressive, as Cavina demonstrates at every turn. Highly recommended.

J. F. Weber, FANFARE