The Full Monteverdi

I Fagiolini's unusual performance of Claudio Monteverdi's Il quarto libro de madrigali (Fourth Book of Madrigals).
Wow!
After 35 minutes sitting at cabaret-style tables drinking wine and eating cheese/fruit, a voice to my right began to sing, soon followed by six to eight others who were engaged with another at the table. It was like overhearing a very intimate conversation between a couple. I first thought that the guy to my right was embarrassed to be seated next to a singer, but it was soon clear that he was (as were the other 'partners') part of the performance.
There were no pauses between madrigals, but the music moved straight from one to the next. The ensemble relayed the music from one couple to the next, with each couple in different points entering the lover's quarrel.
The difficult of the music was compounded by the performers' movement and the distance which they were spread. Divided into pairs, they sung/acted the madrigals. Their virtuosity was demonstrated in their ability to overcome problems of tuning and coherence magnified by the space and spacing.
The venue provided good acoustics and fabulous views of midtown Manhattan.
Thus presented dramatic, it is easy to recognize how Monteverdi was the originator of Western opera. It would have been good, however, to have possessed translations in order to understand more fully the arc of the poetic narrative.

High recommend.