Concerto Italien, Concerto Pour Clavecin N°5 / Le Combat De Tancrède Et Clorinde

This recording was released as part of the Hachette Encyclopédie Sonore collection, an ambitious mid-20th-century initiative intended to bring classical music and literary masterpieces to a wider public through affordable vinyl releases. Produced during an era when European labels were aggressively expanding their catalogs to include both Baroque masterworks and more specialized early music, the disc features a juxtaposition of Bach’s keyboard works performed by Martin Galling and Monteverdi’s dramatic madrigal cycle, Le Combat de Tancrède et Clorinde.

The performances reflect the mid-century German approach to Baroque interpretation, characterized by the precise, academic rigor of the Bachcollegium Stuttgart under Helmuth Rilling and the Mainzer Kammerorchester led by Günter Kehr. While the Hachette series was marketed largely for its educational value and accessibility, the musicians involved were established figures in the post-war German classical scene, known for their commitment to technical accuracy and a structured, clean aesthetic that helped standardize the performance of these pieces for a generation of listeners.