This is the first complete recording of the 30 madrigals by Philippe Verdelot as preserved in the Newberry-Oscott partbooks (c1528), thought to have been assembled for Henry VIII. As such, it is self-recommending; that the performances are so good is merely the icing on the cake.
Verdelot (c1480-c1532), a Frenchman who worked in Venice, Rome and Florence, was one of the chief innovators in the realm of the Italian madrigal. Here, he sets poems by Machiavelli, Petrarch, Bonaccorsi and others in a manner that relies more on the contrasts between lightly-textured polyphony and declamatory chordal passages than on the sophisticated word-painting of a later generation.

The UK ensemble Alamire, directed by musicologist and performer David Skinner, is joined on this recording by lutenist/harpist Lynda Sayce. Together they present Verdelot’s madrigals in a variety of ways: one-to-a-part; solo voice with lute or harp accompaniment; or purely instrumentally, after the tradition of making lute intabulations of vocal music at the time.
This proves to be a fruitful approach.

The expansive imagery in Petrarch’s canzona Italia mia benefits from the full sonority of Verdelot’s five-part setting; by contrast, the use of solo mezzo and lute alone in the following setting of Lodovico Martelli’s Con l’angelico riso emphasises the more delicate language of smiles, kisses and tears. Elsewhere, as in Deh, quant’ è dolc’ amor, the solo lute versions allow the listener to mentally recite, and reflect on, the texts, which are printed in full. The booklet also contains excellent notes by Skinner himself. WILLIAM YEOMAN