Les Arts Florissants & William Christie - Monteverdi: Madrigali & Selva Morale (2017)

Reissued in 2017 to celebrate the 450th anniversary of Claudio Monteverdi's birth, these recordings by William Christie and Les Arts Florissants were originally released over a period of 15 years in the 1980s and 1990s by Harmonia Mundi. Included in this trimline box set are four albums, covering the Madrigals (Books Seven and Eight), the dramatic ballet Il ballo delle ingrate, the sacred collection Selve morale e spirituale, and the operatic scena Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda. In addition to Monteverdi's groundbreaking operas La favola d'Orfeo, L'Incoronazione di Poppea, and Il ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria, and his sacred choral works, such as the Vespro della Beata Virgine of 1610, the works in this collection demonstrate the composer's radical stylistic development, from late Renaissance mannerism to the innovations (such as expressive recitatives and the use of basso continuo) that ushered in the early Baroque era. These exceptional recordings were also reissued as separate CDs in the label's Musique d'Abord series. -- Blair Sanderson