This disc is apparently meant to accompany a book by Italian musicologist
Annibale Gianuario; it contains neither texts nor commentary on these monodic songs from the year 1601, the dawn of the Baroque era in music. The writer of the book is apparently an admirer of the singer on the disc,
Nella Anfuso, a soprano with a coterie of mostly European fans. And to them she should be left. There is an over-the-top quality in her singing that may appeal to some, but she has one vowel (O), one vibrato intensity (circling wildly around the pitch like a desperate prizefighter), and one tempo (slow enough to enable her to get through early Baroque ornaments one note at a time). Maybe somehow, in the context of
Gianuario's book, it all makes sense as the illustration of an idea as to how this repertoire should be authentically sung. But if you run across a freestanding copy of this disc, it is best avoided. The 1990 recording of
Caccini madrigals by
Jordi Savall and
Montserrat Figueras (Caccini: Le nuove musiche: Firenze 1601) is terrific if you can find it; if not, more recent recordings by
Julianne Baird will do fine.