Monteverdi's second book of madrigals for five voices shows an astonishing advance on his first in every way. One of the many signs of the improvement is the greater quality of the texts Monteverdi chose to set. He favors lyrics by the infamous neurotic Torquato Tasso, and the best pieces are invariably on Tasso's vivid, image-rich texts. For whatever reason, the last four pieces in the book, Ti spontò is one of them, are on other poets' works. Coincidentally or not, it doesn't glimmer with quite the same amount of life. Not that Ti spontò is charmless, there's just something dampened about most of it.

Filippo Alberti's poem, which speaks of clipped wings, and a loss of heart may have suggested a more moderate approach. But the ideally tragic images like "clipped wings" inspires less than we can reasonably expect from the composer of golden little works like S'andasse Amor a caccia. In fact the setting of the entire first three lines is flatly unimpressive. Although the vocal colors are sweet, the harmonies compelling, clear and elegant, there's just no magic. "Why do you weep you fool?" changes that. Set to a little three-voice homophony of the kind that Monteverdi writes so well, its elegant, questioning reserve does what Monteverdi's music normally does in Book 2; it speaks the meaning and nuance of the poetic line better than the words alone could do. For the rest, Ti spontò l'ali only provides a little break in a collection that might otherwise be too much of a good thing.

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