Monteverdi: Combattimento

CML call number: CD CLASSICAL Monteverdi
Anthony Tommasini wrote in the New York Times: "The tenor Rolando Villazón, one of the hottest stars in opera today, lends his luster to this program of mostly unfamiliar but extraordinary vocal works by Monteverdi. And Emmanuelle Haïm directs the exciting Baroque ensemble Le Concert d'Astrée. The main piece is 'Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda,' an 18-minute work from Monteverdi's eighth book of madrigals (1638). … 'Combattimento,' on a text by Tasso, is a viscerally dramatic work for a narrator and two characters. Tancredi, a Christian soldier, has fallen in love with Clorinda, a Saracen. They meet on a battlefield, unrecognizable in their armor. They fight intensely; Clorinda is fatally wounded. Tancredi, to his horror, realizes his mistake, and in her dying moments Clorinda asks for a Christian baptism. … Mr. Villazón sings the narrative. … When the action heats up, the words come pouring forth in fits, while the instruments erupt. … Mr. Villazón brings operatic ardor to his singing, which seems exactly right. Yet when understatement is called for, he shapes phrases with tender elegance" (3/4/07).