# Monteverdi: Chiome D'oro versus Chiome D'oro



## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

It was sometime in November or December last year when I was searching the Internet looking for a particular Monteverdi madrigal but I had forgotten the name. It turned out the one I was looking for was called "Chiome D'oro" from his seventh book of madrigals (I think it was his seventh, correct me if it isn't), and came across two recordings on period instruments played by baroque specialists.

First recording, Il Complesso Barocco directed by Alan Curtis:






And this one, Australian Brandenburg Orchestra directed by Paul Dyer  :






(Even though the second recording lacks the other voice and is swung in some parts, I still like it better)

What my question is here, is which recording would a music critic say is better?


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

It's a lovely piece, performed by two of my favourite period instrument bands above. Both enjoyable. I have read and saw Paul Dyer's comments about his "jazzy" interpretation (I think that was the term he used) of this piece. Brings an interesting sound to our ears. I personally think Alan Curtis' version was more likely to be closer in spirit to what Monteverdi might have experienced when directing the piece, judging by the consistency of how most other period instrument / historically informed performance practice tend to approach such music. I find them both enjoyable and would have both in my collection.

I attend Australian Brandenburg Orchestra concerts every year (Angel Place in the CBD), and am looking forward to this year's performance of _L'Orfeo_. It will be performed in Sydney and in Melbourne, and I hope fellow Aussies could attend to support our only large professional period instrument band. _L'Orfeo_ would be an Australian premiere, and certainly one by a period instrument band. A historical occasion worth attending. Monteverdi is seldom performed live here anyway.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

^Aussie premiere?!?!? I had no idea! Wow!


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

^Wait a minute... Didn't Pinchgut Opera do a performance of it in 2005 or 2006 here?


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