Monteverdi - "Ardo, avvampo, mi struggo" (Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria)

[@idasusanhedges]

This is fantastic! Some of the scenery looks like what they used for Poppea.

[@talvela100]

Grandissimi! Ineguagliati

[@enriquebarrera6668]

Dos madrigales que no son de Ulises,

[@laurieochsner952]

Wonderful production, but the musical expression of the phrases seems a bit flat. The speed with which the music is delivered seems to suggest that the focus is motion, motion, motion to get to the end of the scene...perhaps because the initial prelude is so long, the fear is that the audience is going to get bored. (The frippery does distract from the music - the wigs keep making me think of the Cowardly Lion at the end of the Wizard of Oz, when he had his hair done!) If the lyrical section had been taken more slowly, I think there might have been time to linger on the beauty of Monteverdi's vocal lines, the gooey, aching harmonies that are there to express the anguish of the poor young man aching and burning for his lady love... instead of a race to the finish.