VA - Monteverdi: Vocal Works (2026) [Hi-Res]

This recording presents Claudio Monteverdi’s dramatic Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda alongside three madrigals. The Combattimento, based on Torquato Tasso’s epic Gerusalemme liberata, depicts in vivid "stilo rappresentativo" the tragic duel between the Christian knight Tancredi and the Saracen warrior Clorinda, an early masterpiece of dramatic vocal music. Soprano Elisabeth Speiser, tenor Rodolfo Malacarne, and bass Laerte Malagutti deliver the passionate narration under the baton of Günter Kehr leading the Mainz Chamber Orchestra. The program is rounded out with three exquisitely crafted madrigals—"Tempro la cetra," "Con che soavità," and "Amor che deggio far?"—featuring the same soloists alongside bass Karlheinz Peter, offering a rich sampling of Monteverdi’s revolutionary vocal writing at the threshold of opera.