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Monteverdi: Il Ballo Delle Ingrate, Etc / Christie


Release Date: 10/13/2009 
Label:  Harmonia Mundi   Catalog #: 501108   Spars Code: DDD 
Composer:  Claudio Monteverdi
Performer:  Agnès Mellon,  Guillemette Laurens,  Gregory Reinhart,  Jill Feldman
Conductor:  William Christie
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Les Arts Florissants
Number of Discs: 1 
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Notes and Editorial Reviews

Certainly there are many good features about the realization of II ballo delle ingrate, a work that does not lend itself especially well to concert performance, and which is performed here with flair and imagination. I also agree that the conclusion has been miscalculated, and that the petulant tone adopted by the Ingrate in her lament is far from satisfactory. The Sestina, on the other hand, is splendidly realized in a bold fashion that throws new light on the work. The singers of Les Arts Florissants perhaps do not produce the most beautiful of sounds, but their feel for the dramatic potential of the music is expert, and the strident tone is captivating.

-- Gramophone [8/1985], reviewing the original CD release
 Certainly there are many good features about the realization of II ballo delle ingrate, a work that does not lend itself especially well to concert performance, and which is performed here with flair and imagination. I also agree that the conclusion has been miscalculated, and that the petulant tone adopted by the Ingrate in her lament is far from satisfactory. The Sestina, on the other hand, is splendidly realized in a bold fashion that throws new light on the work. The singers of Les Arts Florissants perhaps do not produce the most beautiful of sounds, but their feel for the dramatic potential of the music is expert, and the strident tone is captivating.

-- Gramophone [8/1985], reviewing the original CD release
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Works on This Recording

1. Madrigals, Book 8: Il ballo delle ingrate by Claudio Monteverdi
Performer:  Agnès Mellon (Soprano), Guillemette Laurens (Mezzo Soprano), Gregory Reinhart (Bass),
Jill Feldman (Soprano)
Conductor:  William Christie
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Les Arts Florissants
Period: Baroque 
Written: 1608; Mantua, Italy 
2. Madrigals, Book 6: Sestina - Lagrime d'amante al sepolcro by Claudio Monteverdi
Conductor:  William Christie
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Les Arts Florissants
Period: Baroque 
Written: by 1614; Italy 

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