The Ferrarese Luzzasco Luzzaschi, a pupil of Cipriano de Rore and teacher in turn of Girolamo Frescobaldi, much admired and praised by the self-same Gesualdo da Venosa, has passed into history as the principal musical inspiration for the Concerto delle Dame, that vocal trio with instrumental accompaniment (for which Glossa has very recently produced a new recording). Luzzaschi’s Quinto Libro de Madrigali from 1595, fully in keeping with the seconda prattica, which stressed the fundamental role of the text both at the point of composing and performing, and which was a new aesthetic which the ensemble La Venexiana led by Claudio Cavina have been responsible for reviving over the last twenty years with a superlative and refined commitment. With this disc from 1999 – their third such for Glossa – the group was definitively recognised as leading modern-day interpreters of madrigals.