Anne Sofie von Otter, Ensemble Cappella Mediterranea/Leonardo García Alarcón Naïve V 5286*****

Monteverdi, says Anne Sofie von Otter, “is to early music as Shakespeare is to drama: unlimited reading possibilities, intellectually and emotionally”. She explores this idea through Monteverdi and his influence on Francesco Cavalli, Luigi Rossi and Francesco Provenzale.

The focus is on laments, and Otter’s partnership with Leonardo García Alarcón’s Ensemble Cappella Mediterranea (with soprano Sandrine Piau and contralto Susanna Sundbergin a handful of duets) is extraordinarily rich, as if they’ve managed to scan the music so thoroughly that all the pain and regret of the bereft or bereaved is fully expressed. In the middle of the dolorous mix you’ll find the unlikely mood shifts of Neapolitan Provenzale’s Squarciato appena havea, a parody, incorporating popular songs, of Rossi’s totally earnest Lamento de la regina di Suezia.

Remarkable stuff. url.ie/8fjv