Su la cetra amorosa Arie e capricci (Figueras) (2008)

"This release from the soprano Montserrat Figueras shows that Merula's secular vocal style is if anything even more interesting than, if not as historically significant as, his entertaining and effervescent canzonas. As the note points out, he was amongst the first generation of Italian composers to take the new baroque style for granted, a fact which is not easily surmised from the publication dates of his compositions, which give the impression that he is closer to the generation of Monteverdi and Frescobaldi than is really the case. He published a good deal when he was a young man when the 'masters' were still in the ascendancy; whether or not his reputation has suffered from lying awkwardly between their epoch and that of Cavalli and Carissimi is difficult to gauge. His solo vocal pieces were certainly highly regarded in their day and it is not hard to see why". (www.gramophone.co.uk).

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