Laurent Colson

“Him alone did they call the Father of all musicians, to whom the Germans were indebted for enabling them now to bring music to a standard equal to that of the Italians, if not even higher”. So wrote Johann Mattheson in 1740 in praise of Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672), the most revered German musician of his generation. On this CD the ensemble inAlto present works by Schütz himself, but also by some of his students, which show why Schütz was such a good teacher, who handed on his talent to the following generation.

Luigi Zenobi, a virtuoso cornetist known as Luigi del cornetto, was born in Ancona in the mid-sixteenth century. He later moved to Vienna, where he entered the service of the Emperor Maximilian II. His reputation grew and he subsequently worked for the Este family in Ferrara, where he was the most respected and best-paid musician at court up to that time, so sought-after were his talents. Luigi was also a painter, poet, miniaturist and music scholar. An eyewitness recalled the delicacy of his playing: softer than the harpsichord when its lid is closed. Giovanni Sansoni, a composer and cornetist probably originally from Venice, was born around 1593. He was engaged by Archduke Ferdinand of Austria in Graz in 1613 and followed him to Vienna when he became Emperor in 1619.

This recording transports us to Rome’s Chiesa Nuova, the Oratory Church where in 1600 the premiere took place of the first spiritual opera, La Rappresentatione di Anima e di Corpo by Cavalieri. That pioneering spirit has inspired this programme devised by InAlto. Among the manuscripts in the church’s library is an anonymous source, probably dating from the very beginning of the 17th century, containing a complete cycle of settings of those seven psalms that ever since the time of Saint Augustine have been called the ‘Penitenial Psalms’. This Roman score is absolutely unique of its kind, being monodic, and composed in the early operatic melodic narrative style of recitar cantando.

"The mute cornett, whose mouthpiece resembles that of the cornett but is integrated into the instrument, has a very soft and tender sound. For this reason it is called a mute cornett”. Four such instruments that by some miracle survived the loss of the great collections of the Kassel court are now kept in Leipzig; these instruments formed the starting point for a doctoral thesis led by Lambert Colson. It is now possible to trace the entire history of these instruments, from their manufacture by great Venetian makers, their acquisition by Moritz Von Hessen (the famous patron of the young Heinrich Schütz), the names of the musicians who played them, to the music that was composed for this mysterious cousin of the cornett. This recording will use copies of historical instruments in works composed for the Kassel court, for the most part unpublished, at the Accademia Filarmonica in Verona.

"The mute cornett, whose mouthpiece resembles that of the cornett but is integrated into the instrument, has a very soft and tender sound. For this reason it is called a mute cornett”. Four such instruments that by some miracle survived the loss of the great collections of the Kassel court are now kept in Leipzig; these instruments formed the starting point for a doctoral thesis led by Lambert Colson. It is now possible to trace the entire history of these instruments, from their manufacture by great Venetian makers, their acquisition by Moritz Von Hessen (the famous patron of the young Heinrich Schütz), the names of the musicians who played them, to the music that was composed for this mysterious cousin of the cornett. This recording will use copies of historical instruments in works composed for the Kassel court, for the most part unpublished, at the Accademia Filarmonica in Verona.

New York, 1959. Pour tous, Ray Carney est un vendeur irréprochable de meubles et d'électroménager. Pourtant, il peine à renier la lignée d'escrocs dont il descend. Son cousin Freddie l'entraîne dans des plans douteux, à commencer par le braquage de l'Hôtel Theresa. Peu à peu, alors que Harlem s'embrase, Ray se bâtit une nouvelle clientèle faite de policiers véreux et de gangsters. …