Monteverdi: Selva morale e spirituale (Excerpts) – Pablo Heras-Casado

Choir & Organ (Jul, 2018)
For polish and panache that almost eclipses all these, seek out the Balthasar Neumann Choir and Ensemble’s Selva morale e spirituale – no Mass included but masses of sacred and secular fabulousness, sung and played with believable joy, affection, poise, and profound understanding. The best comes last, however, and for three and a half hours of intensive madrigalian sumptuousness here’s Paul Agnew directing Les Arts Florissants Monteverdi Madrigali offering an immersive experience with three discs severally dedicated to the composer’s years in Cremona, Mantua and Venice. Impressive excellence in emotional, technical, stylistic, and linguistic terms, it’s simply exquisite craftsmanship: the musical equivalent of Fortuny’s silk brocades, the deep shine on a …