Al dolce risonar

For a gathering of discerning singers, Al dolce risonar is a secular Italian madrigal from the Renaissance. Giovanni Bernardino Nanino sets a text describing the effect of a beautiful woman's voice and appearance. The music moves from sweet harmonies to more expressive, disquieted passages, reflecting the lover's conflicting emotions of admiration and distress. This SAATB setting would have been enjoyed in intimate social settings, its intricate vocal lines and text painting characteristic of the period's sophisticated part-music.