Monteverdi & d’India: Madrigals

One of the major musical innovations of the Renaissance, the madrigal was a form in which composers tried out every harmonic audacity, and a crucial step towards baroque music. The genre bloomed in 16th-century’s Italy and reached its peak at the turn of the century, with the generation of Monteverdi and Gesualdo. The vocal ensemble Chiaroscuro led by Nigel Rogers performs a beautiful florilegium of Monteverdi madrigals from books 6, 7 and 8 and pieces by his less well-known contemporary Sigismondo d’India. The instrumental accompaniment (expressly required by the composers) is handled by the London Baroque and theorbo player Jacob Lindberg.