L'arte del Madrigale: La Venexiana

Over the years Glossa has been at the forefront of releasing recordings of late Renaissance madrigals, and the label has had the pleasure of assisting superlative artists in doing so: none more so than the voices of La Venexiana and its director Claudio Cavina. This release is a reflection of such creative richness. The recordings on this release date from the dozen years after La Venexianas foundation in 1996, a time of great activity for the ensemble, and which complements the Monteverdi Complete Madrigals Books set, released previously. These two impressive collections demonstrate effectively why La Venexiana has been so popular with audiences and why it has been praised by critics as well. It is remarkable to have such musical and expressive guides- and with such interpretative consistency- to take one now through the potent thirty year period in the development of the Italian madrigal from 1586 onwards; a time when the madrigal reached its zenith. Within the nonet of recordings in Larte del madrigal are to be found complete books of madrigals from composers who reflected the greater textual expressivity of the new seconda prattica- Luzzaschi, Wert and Marenzio- along with the Neapolitan freedoms demonstrated by Gesualdo and DIndia.