Meraviglia D’Amore, Songs From 17Th-Century Italy – Marco Beasley

   in Early Music Today (Sep, 2017)
Italian tenor Marco Beasley celebrates his 60th birthday on this disc with nine exquisitely melodious love songs from 17th-century Italy. The ace is the title track, Meraviglia d’amore, Marvel of Love, by the Venetian Biagio Marini – a real gondolier’s gem, catchy as a cold in shapely phrases, balanced symmetry and simple, intriguing harmony.

Beasley’s light tenor has a plaintive, seductive quality, irresistible to the ear when gentle – which, in this repertoire, is always. He has clear enunciation and illustrates the text with delicate inflections, a sigh here, a laugh there and idiomatic ornaments everywhere.

Two songs by Girolamo Kapsberger feature a walking bass-line, no doubt influenced by the composer’s …