La Venexiana & Claudio Cavina - Monteverdi: L'Orfeo (2007)

Glossa's Orfeo is a scrupulously and beautifully produced limited edition, published in book format. Everything about its production, from the quality of its binding and paper to its typeface, bespeaks a meticulous attention to the highest standards of book publishing. The care given its presentation is fully justified by the variety and relevance of the essays, which lay out the origins of the Orpheus myth and its significance in Western culture, as well as getting at the heart of the questions about the creation and first performances of the opera, and textual and practical issues surrounding the original publications of the score.

The quality of the recording is comparably high. Even though, for an early Baroque opera, the score of Orfeo is remarkably complete in terms of the orchestration, a considerable number of creative decisions about the deployment of the instruments must be made by the musical director, particularly involving the constitution of the basso continuo, which can be taken by a single string instrument, a keyboard, either cembalo or organ, brass instruments, or an ensemble. In some numbers, when Monteverdi wanted a particular dramatic effect, he specified the instrumentation, but the majority of the decisions are left to the performer, and conductor Claudio Cavina makes judicious but creative and dramatically effective choices. Monteverdi also left no tempo indications, but it's known that the recitatives were to approximate the natural flow of speech, and here again Cavina excels in the propulsive fluidity of his conducting. Ensemble La Venexiana has a warm, rich tone, and responds to Cavina's leadership with crisp energy and precision. The soloists are first rate, singing with the tonal purity the music requires, refreshingly natural and unmannered delivery, and the dramatic instincts to bring the story poignantly to life. As Orfeo, Mirko Guadagnini is particularly effective, singing with clarion tone and dramatic urgency. Glossa's version should have a secure place among the outstanding recordings of the opera that do justice to Monteverdi's achievement. -- Stephen Eddins