Vecchi: L'Amfiparnaso.(Book Review)

I Fagiolini, R. Hollingworth; with Simon Callow. Chandos Chaconne CH DVD5029 (Koch, dist.), 58 mins., extra features

Fashioning an amusing theatrical entertainment out of a 400-year-old book of Italian madrigals might seem a tall order. The British vocal group I Fagiolini, directed by Robert Hollingworth, is known for shooting fun and surprise into concerts of Renaissance music (this summer they gave "The Foil Monteverdi" in restaurants around England), and a new DVD shows their nimble handling of Orazio Vecchi's madrigal-comedy L'Amfiparnaso (The Twin Peaks of Parnassus).

The work, published in 1597, is a collection of polyphonic vocal pieces on texts by Giulio Cesare Croce presenting comic and tragic situations with stock commedia dell'arte figures. The woodcuts accompanying the publication and the colorful and highly theatrical nature of the episodes depicted have inspired stagings before this, notably a 2001 production at the Theatre de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, paired with Puccini's Gianni Schicehi.

The DVD of Hollingworth's troupe alternates live performances from the Great Hall of the Dartington Hall Estate (directed by Peter Wilson) with arty videos (by Greg Browning) filmed around the fountains, gardens and ramparts of the estate's grounds.

The madrigals are sung in their original language (various Italian dialects, along with some comic Spanish and faux-Hebrew) by the singers of I Fagiolini, three of whom--Carys Lane, ...