La Venexiana/Claudio Cavina Glossa GCD 920919****

The Italian composer Luzzasco Luzzaschi (ca 1545-1607) was a musician at the court of Alfonso II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara. The duke's fondness for the female voice led to the creation of the concerto delle donne, a secret musical indulgence (attendance by invitation only, the music itself kept under lock and key) involving highly virtuosic works for one, two and three sopranos. The renown of the enterprise was such that, secret as it was, it was widely imitated. After Alfonso's death in 1597 the music was lost, but Luzzaschi later published madrigals that he had written for the celebrated trio. Anyone who has acquired a taste for ornate, declamatory singing from, say, Monteverdi, will find much to fascinate here in the finely-honed singing of Roberta Mameli, Emanuela Galli and Francesca Cassinari, though Luzzaschi's harmonic sense is not on par with Monteverdi's. See url.ie/5afh