Monteverdi's second book of madrigals is notable for many reasons, one being the surprising variety of forms and styles it contains. Clearly Monteverdi had a protean kind of genius that allowed him to pour the stuff of his imagination into any vessel. Most of the pieces are progressive in their stylistic bent, but a few, no less interesting, are more strongly linked with tradition. The wonderful S'andasse Amor a caccia is probably the most archaic-sounding piece in the collection, recalling most notably the work of Clement Janequin (La Chasse) in both its graceful quickness and subject matter, although it shows considerable technical structural tonal advancements on his work. Since at least the fourteenth century the chase, or hunting scenes, had been popular subjects of Italian secular music.

The hunting scene depicted in Torquato Tasso's clever poem is figurative: "Love" himself is hunting. Monteverdi relishes every opportunity it provides for vivid, picturesque word painting, just as we should expect. The music bursts immediately into life with four voices in a series of tight-knit imitations that are interlocked with quasi-military rhythms of other lines chanting out the text syllabically. Much of the piece is composed in this attractive two-tiered way, with the notable exception of the early homophonic climax, one of the only tuttis in the piece, on the repeat of "the traces of the deer." Because it's based on jittery, staccato syllabic writing, S'andasse Amor is almost pointillistic, its surface texture consistently shot through with spaces. Not surprisingly, that makes the big triadic finish, and said homophonic climactic point, seem both rather huge, fabulously rich, and even more impressive for their fleeting brevity.

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