Nei giardini d’amore (In the gardens of love), the latest recording from Les Arts Florissants (Harmonia Mundi), could just as well have been titled The Gardens of Delight. And “delight” certainly describes the feeling captured by the interplay of the two superb countertenor voices recorded on this disc in their glorious prime.
The singers, Carlo Vistoli and Hugh Cutting, are perfect for the Baroque repertoire featured here. Each has a distinctly beautiful alto voice, with Vistoli’s the more throbbing of the two, and both know how to modulate and blend their instruments to create a true duo ensemble.
Conductor William Christie is the master of style and elegance. Listen, for example, to one of the three short instrumental interludes on the album, Antonio Caldara’s five-minute Ciaccona from Sonata Op. 2, No. 12, and enjoy the skill with which the group keeps the music moving and dancing. Handel’s even shorter Andante from his Trio Sonata in C Minor HWV 386a is equally beautiful, the instrumental interplay sensational in its rarefied blend of color and grace.
Cutting’s plangent vocalism touches the heart in the opening duet of Giovanni Bononcini’s six-movement “Sempre piango e dir non so” (Always weeping, I cannot say / When I shall ever laugh again) for two voices and continuo, with Vistoli serving as his somewhat more melodramatic counterpart. Christie’s accompaniment is intentionally spare, the instrumental blend an ideal undercurrent to the singers’ emotions.
This music’s gravity contrasts maximally with the buoyant rhythms and spirit of the opening track, Claudio Monteverdi’s “Damigella tutta bella,” (Maiden so fair) SV 235 from Scherzi musicali.
Lighter feelings continue in Agostino Steffani’s delightful “Aita, Fortuna” (Help me, Fortune) from a piece you’ve likely never heard, La lotta d’Ercole con Acheloo (The contest between Hercules and Acheloo), but they eventually cede to the sorrow and grace of Giovanni Battista Fontana’s five-minute Seventh Sonata.
Throughout the album’s 27 tracks, with compositions spanning just under a century and a half, Christie’s refinement and the glowingly engineered sound provide balm for the ear and soul. The album booklet, which in web form places French and Italian on one page and English and German on the next, may be a bit frustrating for English speakers determined to follow words and translations, but the superb sonics — the 24-bit/96 kHz high-resolution stream and download sound marvelous — more than compensate. A perfect recording for those who love to close their eyes and bliss out.