Sergio Foresti / Stile Galante / Stefano Aresi ANTONIO CALDARA Brutus

With this album, Stile Galante continues its work in the world of the Italian solo chamber cantata – here Stefano Aresi’s ensemble joins forces with baritone Sergio Foresti in order to bring us a selection of cantatas by Antonio Caldara (1670-1736) for bass. These unusual pieces are preserved in precious manuscripts in Bologna and Vienna and are extremely demanding for the singer, asking for great skills (both vocal and theatrical). The seven cantatas recorded here offer a welcome, unusual view on Italian vocal chamber music, especially as linked to the Viennese court. The Italian bass, Sergio Foresti, graduated with full marks in piano, under the guidance of Germana Ruozi, and in singing with Maria Gabriella Munari at the Istituto Musicale O. Vecchi. He subsequently took part in the specialising courses held by Liliana Poli and Leonardo De Lisi. Sergio Foresti made his debut in 1998 in L’Olimpiade by Antonio Vivaldi at the Teatro Rendano di Cosenza. From then on, he started to appear in some of the most important festivals and theatres throughout Europe.

La Venexiana CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI Sesto Libro dei Madrigali

With the ease and flair of the great masters, the members of La Venexiana once again reach a level entirely unattainable for other consorts, in a repertoire demanding the fullest identification of composer and performer. Within the Monteverdi Edition, it is time now for the Sixth Book, beginning with the well-known Lamento d'Arianna in its madrigal version, where a larger-than-life Rossana Bertini sets the tone for her companions in a stunning rendition.

The Sixth is a transitional book, where some of the great changes Monteverdi will establish in his Seventh Book can already be surmised. Its literary texts are full of direct and intertwined dialogues, as the third person gives way to the first, and description to representation. Instruments appear timidly, with a most subtle Fabio Bonizzoni contributing his personal touch of magic to pieces that tend to shape up as true miniature dramas. (GLOSSA)

La Venexiana CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI Primo Libro dei Madrigali & Nono Libro dei Madrigali

In bringing together the First and Ninth Books of Madrigals by Claudio Monteverdi it is tempting to ask the question whether some common denominator exists which is capable of encircling the entire range of ideas expressed by this journey, the duration of which lasted for over half a century. Monteverdi himself offered a clue to this question in a letter dated December 1616, where he wrote: “How will I be able to imitate the conversing of the winds if they speak not? And across them, will I be able to stir the emotions?” It is precisely his passion for the written word which guided the composer all through his career. Themes such as the world, feelings, the entirety of life, are revealed in a constant stream of words that are sung, cried, whispered, hushed and dreamt. Their rhythm, sonority and colour represent, for Monteverdi, direct proof of the mobility of the emotions, the primary material on which the composer needs to work.

Published in 1587 in Venice by Angelo Gardano, the Madrigali a cinque voci… Libro primo acts as the departure point of an exploration which was to change the face of the genre over the following decades, voyaging towards new horizons in which not only music but the actual vision of the world itself was to become irrevocably altered.

The Monteverdian voyage with the madrigal concludes with a posthumous (albeit detachable) chapter. Published by Alessandro Vincenti in 1651, the Libro Nono was conceived without the involvement of the composer, who had died some eight years previously. The project was born from Vincenti’s desire to exploit the pull which the composer’s name was still exerting... (GLOSSA)