Presto Recordings of the Year
Finalist 2023

Randall Scotting (counter-tenor), Jorge Navarro Colorado (tenor), Academy of Ancient Music, Laurence Cummings

Monteverdi: Vorrei baciarti
Monteverdi: Se i languidi miei sguardi
Melani, J: Da torbido nembo (from Ercole in Tebe)
Monteverdi: Perchè fuggi?
Merula: Ballo deto Polliccio
Castrovillari: Dove, m’ascondo (from La Cleopatra)
Monteverdi: Soave libertate (Book 7)
Cavalli: Io resto solo?… Misero, così va (from Eliogabalo)
Frescobaldi: Toccata Quarta
Monteverdi: Tornate, o cari baci (Book 7)
Boretti: Crudo Amor (from Ercole in Tebe)
Stradella: Oh quanti soli – Così stà arioso… – Oblio, che lento aria – Le mie fiamme – Ah, gl’è meglio ridere – Ahimè, gl’è meglio piangere (from Il Trespolo Tutore)
Monteverdi: Se pur destina e vole
Legrenzi: Il ballo del Gran Duca
Boretti: Entro l’orrida mole… Se per tè lieto mi lice (from Ercole in Tebe)
Monteverdi: Con che soavità (Book 7)
Monteverdi: Pur ti miro (I gaze upon you) from L'Incoronazione di Poppea

The first of its kind, this duet album is a musical journey that draws back the curtain that has obscured gay love-stories for centuries.

In the 17th century, Venice offered a liberal safe haven of sorts to the gay community of greater Europe. There are accounts of outed artists escaping to Venice to live and work amongst its more permissive culture.

Almost 400 years later, we reconnect with this uncommonly tolerant place and time to share a history that is yet untold.

The album includes vivid and charming duets from Monteverdi’s 7th book of madrigals as well as his touching musical love letters (lettere amorose).

Additionally, there are four modern-day premieres of works by the little-known composers Boretti, Melani, and Castrovillari; including a moving duet for the lovers Hercules and Theseus as they exit the underworld hand-in-hand.

Solo arias by Cavalli and Stradella depict the yearning of hidden love, and the recording culminates with one of the most beautiful duets of all time, ‘Pur ti miro’ from Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea.

This album is a recognition and celebration of gay love that spans the centuries.