SE I LANGUIDI MIEI SGUARDI (Lettera amorosa dal Libro VII dei Madrigali di Claudio Monteverdi) for soprano and string quartet

It is an arrangement for soprano and string quartet of the same name madrigal ‘in stile recitativo’ from the Book VII of the Madrigals by Monteverdi Tag’ class=’claudio-monteverdi-en’>Claudio Monteverdi, commissioned by the Estovest Festival 2013 for the voice of Alda Caiello and the Xenia Ensemble. Later I made a further version (less faithful to the original text) for the voice of Stella Doufexis and the Delian Quartet that was performed in the Concert Season of the Duisburger Philarmoniker. To accept this commission meant for me to confront with a quite complicated task, that one of combine the freedom of the recited word with the limits dictated by an instrumental ensemble (in the original score in the beginning is written ’Lettera amorosa a voce sola in genere rappresentativo e si canta senza battuta’ that means approximately ‘Love letter for solo voice, in theatrical style, to be sung without regular measure’). The original voice part was kept entirely while the basso continuo part was reworked and transformed even if it maintains explicit connections with the source. Through the use of the mute, of the open strings and of the harmonics I searched for a veiled colour, able to evoke the sonorities of the Early Baroque instruments but sinked into an unreal and luminescent halo, alienated from the voice untouched in its original shape.

Programme notes (Duisburg): duisburger-philharmoniker.de_DPcms14_wp-content_uploads_2010_01_2.-Kammerkonzert

Review of the concert – Rheinische Post: 141021, Rheinische Post