Matelda Viola & Paola Ronchetti - Sigismondo D'India: Duetti Profani (2012)

Tactus' Sigismondo D'India: Duetti Profani focuses on 17 duets for two soprano voices taken from the first two of five collections published under the blanket title of Le Musice published in 1609 and 1615, respectively. This accounts for all but four of the secular two voices and continuo settings that d'India is known to have composed, and as the disc only runs 46 minutes, one wonders why these four were not also included. However, the 1615 Le Musice is presented in its entirety and some of these pieces have never been recorded before. Sopranos Matelda Viola and Paola Ronchetti often perform Italian Renaissance and Baroque vocal duet literature together, doing so initially as members of the Italian early music group Ensemble Camerata Nova. The backing musicians also appear to be drawn from the ranks of this group, although their presence is only barely indicated on the package and, likewise, barely audible on the recording. The selection of pieces are not a straight-up rendering of typical canzonetti as one might expect owing to the two-voice medium employed; while there are rather unconventional canzonetti heard here, there are also two-voice madrigals and a number of pieces that are like monodic continuo settings with two voices rather than one. While Viola and Ronchetti are not as crisp in this material as, say, Emma Kirkby and Evelyn Tubb might be, nor do they add much characterization to the texts, presented in Italian only, nevertheless they do a good job of negotiating d'India's treacherous rhythms and thorny discords. Despite their efforts, the only acknowledgement Viola and Ronchetti attain in the booklet are driver's license-quality photos of each and not a word of biographical information on them.

As a disc for the listeners uncurious about the music who just want to hear the sopranos sing, it can be a very pleasant experience; listeners attuned to d'India and to the vocal music of the early Baroque will find much to savor here. This is a case where Tactus started out with a good project but proved inattentive to some basic contextual needs of most listeners and, as a result, risked botching the job. A better balance between voices and instruments, translated texts or at least a link to them, and some information about these artists would have made Sigismondo D'India: Duetti Profani a great deal more attractive proposition than it is. ~ Uncle Dave Lewis