Siesta Ensemble & Ovidio Gimenez Bassoon Delights

Twelve Sibyls, ancient psychics, became during the Middle-Ages the counterpoints of the Prophets, announcing since the beginning of time (2nd-7th centuries) the arrival of a child who will become the Savior of the World. The emergence of those characters and of these strange and mysterious texts resulted of the fascination the Renaissance resolutely showed towards Antiquity. The Sibyls were even portrayed by Michelangelo on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. And it is perhaps while he was in Rome as Chapel Master of St John in the Lateran that Roland de Lassus met them and drew from their figures -with names already so dreamlike and evocative of marvelous lands such as Sibylla Delphica, Persica, Erythrea, Cumana, Hellespontiaca, Libyca … – the inspiration for this collection. The Prophetiae were composed somewhere between Rome, Antwerp and Munich, within a short period of disappearance (1554-1555) of Lassus, during which no one knows with certainty what became of the composer.

The violinist, cellist, flutist and oboist Robert Valentine (Leicester, 1671 - Rome, 1747) was a prolific author of sonatas - especially for recorder - and an instrumentalist engaged in the musical life of Rome, the city where he moved, in a period between 1693 and 1700, from his native England. Valentine belonged to a group – not very large but quite important for their excellent performative qualities – of virtuosos of wind instruments (oboe and also flute) who in the first half of the eighteenth century moved to Italy, also to make up for some shortage of instrumentalists in this sector, even if recent researches show, especially in Naples, a great vivacity of local schools even for what concerns wind musicians. At the beginning of the eighteenth century, between Rome, Naples and Florence, we discover the presence of at least four foreign instrumentalists: the oboists / flutists Ignatio Rion (active in Venice, Rome and finally in Naples), Ignazio Sieber (Venice), Ludwig Erdmann (Florence) and finally Robert Valentine. The work of this English-born musician greatly fostered the development of flute music in Italy. His work as a composer and performer places him among the most prolific authors of original music for recorder of the period.

Daniel Hope's latest album, "Irish Roots" embodies his deep connection to Ireland, inherited from his paternal great-grandfather who left Waterford for South Africa in the 1890s. Although never residing in Ireland, Hope's fascination with its culture led to the creation of the documentary "Celtic Dreams: Daniel Hope’s Hidden Irish History." Supported by musicologist Olivier Fourés and experiences with award-winning Irish band Lúnasa, Hope explores the intersection of folk and classical music. "Irish Roots" reflects this journey, featuring compositions by Ina Boyle and Turlough O’Carolan alongside classics like "Danny Boy" and Vivaldi's L’estro armonico concertos. Daniel Hope is joined on his new album by a stellar line-up of guest artists, including Lúnasa, harpist Siobhán Armstrong, flautists Sir James and Lady Jeanne Galway, singer Rea Garvey, multi-instrumentalist and folk musician Ross Daly, fellow violinist Simos Papanas, and the Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra conducted by Daniel Geiss.

The Ensemble intercontemporain and its new music director Pierre Bleuse pay homage to György Ligeti, whose birth centenary we celebrated in 2023: ‘Ligeti is one of the greatest composers of the twentieth century and certainly one of those who first made a powerful aesthetic impact on me personally!… This recording, my very first with the Ensemble intercontemporain, which combines concertos and chamber music, highlights the EIC’s qualities as soloists and chamber musicians. And I’m not forgetting that Ligeti is an integral part of the repertoire of the Ensemble, which has performed his works extensively…