Embedded in this curate’s egg of an anthology is the Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, the short piece for the stage that Monteverdi composed in 1624 and published in his Eighth Book of Madrigals. It finds a place in the history books on account of his pioneering use of the stile concitato, the “agitated style”, to represent galloping horses, the clash of arms and so on. Marco Beasley takes the part of both warriors as well as that of the narrator; as it’s the latter who has most of the lines the effect is by no means incongruous and Beasley does more than justice to this not particularly gripping piece.

On the other hand, the excerpt from Orfeo is regrettable. Beasley sings the Messenger’s account of the death of Eurydice; Orfeo’s anxious “Ohimè che odo?” is simply omitted, and his stunned “Ohimè” is played by the strings. When Beasley continues with Orfeo’s “Tu se’ morta”, the strings enter with an ostinato figure. Guido Morini seeks to justify the addition of non-continuo instruments and non-Monteverdian material in a tendentious booklet-note.

The stile concitato reappears in the opening number by Busatti, a charming piece that, like the Lettera amorosa by Monteverdi, has also been given a string accompaniment by Morini. Beasley’s voice is distinctive but, rather than being “different from any other” (that booklet-note again), it resembles that of Nigel Rogers; that is to say it has a slightly nasal but not at all unpleasing edge; and, like Rogers, Beasley uses it with intelligence and sensitivity. The disc is worth hearing for the Combattimento and the instrumental pieces, but caveat emptor.