This recital continues Opus 111's recent interest in the frottola repertory. This time it is entrusted to the Finnish ensemble Retrover fronted by gambist Markus Tapio and contralto Annemieke Cantor. It is good to hear more of these vivacious pieces, and the programme is genuinely engaging, combining as it does sung items with short instrumental interludes (some of which are arrangements of frottole).
Many of these melodies stay in the mind, encouraging one to return to them; but if I have a criticism, it is of what amounts to the occasional miscasting of the contralto as the protagonist for this often truculent recital. Though possessed of a warm and indeed sensuous voice, Cantor's ability to sustain long lines in the slower pieces is sometimes called into question (as in Io so ben quel ch'io so where, to be fair, the choice of a slow tempo is perhaps not self-evident: the same might be said of Ana's Gli occhi toi m'accese 'l core), while in the more lively pieces that very warmth seems to lack the requisite fire: one could imagine a piece like Cara's O che aiuto, o che conforto! declaimed with real venom, but the pitch chosen seems slightly too low to allow her sufficient lever-age. Perhaps it would have been good to entrust at least some of the livelier pieces (such as Pesenti's Dal lecto me levava) to a nimbler soprano. Nevertheless, the recording is admirably clear and well defined, and the music's charm comes across even when its affective potential seems insufficiently realised.
Enthusiasts of this repertory will certainly be inclined to ignore my reservations.'