I love them all ...
but i am very picky about interpretation...
If i compute my listenings, i had my version of my beloved 8th book for 50 years now...
Then i had listend to it more than 500 times... In this book i was in love with a czech interpretation against all italian odds... Prague madrigalist with Venhoda...
He infuse a dynamic which makes each short piece an operatic drama not just a poem...
it is a living interpretation not a static one...
i cannot live without it...
https://www.amazon.ca/Madrigals-War-Love-Monteverdi/dp/B00000353D?crid=18S3DU7FSHUZ8&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.XR2qofKcYt2SFXyzRFoPCw.fCgxiHiLvsRrTcVd0TUcNXpEx8TCRcD6P1KVxLK--FY&dib_tag=se&keywords=Monteverdi+venhoda&qid=1753579626&s=music&sprefix=monteverdi+venhoda%2Cpopular%2C141&sr=1-1
All other interpretation so sophisticated they are, and italian interpretation are very good indeed but fail to transport me as much as Venhoda...
Save Michel Corboz a Swiss maestro i like very much but i had lost my few albums without bein able to own them again ...
I recommend also Gesualdo the supreme master of the madrigals in his classical form so to speak, because Monteverdi goes toward opera quitting poetic declamation of each words as did Gesualdo who sound more contemporary than many modern composer...
He was a Prince who killed his wife and his lover and pass the rest of his life tormented by remorse and created such deep vibrant music nothing ever written compare ... here i recommend the transcendant version of Quintetto vocale italiano ...Stunning nothing compare...
https://www.amazon.ca/Gesualdo-Madrigals-Voices-Books-Complete/dp/B0085AXU4A