No one would argue that 17th-century Italian music for solo voice isn’t a pretty specialized area of interest, whether for performers or listeners–and for those so inclined, this disc offers both signature repertoire and sensitive, committed performances by Dutch soprano Johannette Zomer and theorbist-extraordinaire Fred Jacobs. In characteristic fashion the melodies are governed by the texts, whose impassioned subjects–what else but love?–demand the most expressive vocalism, which requires a substantial measure of ornamentation and careful inflection. The bottom line is that if this is your kind of music–dramatic, personal, emotional, and repetitive–you’ll respond to Zomer’s energetic and sincere interpretations. Jacobs is one of the world’s masters of theorbo (and lute), and his contributions here are exemplary interpretations of several Kapsberger selections–two Toccatas, a Gagliarda, Canzone, and Passacaglia.
For me, the problem here is Zomer’s voice, which she varies from a penetrating, straight-toned, sharp implement to a penetrating, vibrato-honed, serrated instrument, both of which leave our ears slightly shredded after 10 or 15 minutes. This is a singing style favored by many of today’s early-music practitioners, but it’s hard to say what evidence exists for the apparent sacrifice of beauty (certainly an Italian artistic trait) for hard-edged mannerisms–jerky trills and shrieky high-register utterances, for instance–that pose as legitimate expressive devices. The interaction between Zomer and Jacobs is finely tuned and unquestionably comes from a uniform interpretive point of view. And judging from Zomer’s impressive opera-stage credentials, I can only assume that her singing here is a conscious effort to convey a stylistic viewpoint that she believes best represents the material and historical period. Whether it suits your own expectations, you’ll have to decide–but no matter how you judge the singing, you won’t be disappointed by the excellent sound, which gives vivid life to the theorbo selections and perfectly balances voice and instrument in an intimate acoustic setting.