Trabaci

Giovanni Maria Trabaci was born in Monte Pelusio (Irsina) around 1575, and died in Naples on 31 December 1647. This close contemporary of Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643) spent his entire career at Naples. He was engaged as a tenor at SS Annunziata at the age of nineteen, and in 1597 was invited to examine the organ of the Oratorio dei Filippini, whose organist he subsequently became. On 30 October 1601 he was appointed to the prestigious post of organist of the chapel of the Spanish Viceroys of Naples, where he was joined in 1602 by his contemporary Ascanio Mayone, who played the second organ…

In her first solo album as a singer and harpist, Arianna Savall introduces us to a repertoire from the medieval and Baroque periods performed with seven different historical harps. The music comes from three countries where the harp has held a prominent position in cultural life: Italy, France, and Spain, in which the harp experienced a flowering of unique variety and beauty. Arianna Savall with her crystalline voice and her sweet playing, reaches the depths of these distant but at the same time so timeless music.

In her first solo album as a singer and harpist, Arianna Savall introduces us to a repertoire from the medieval and Baroque periods performed with seven different historical harps. The music comes from three countries where the harp has held a prominent position in cultural life: Italy, France, and Spain, in which the harp experienced a flowering of unique variety and beauty. Arianna Savall with her crystalline voice and her sweet playing, reaches the depths of these distant but at the same time so timeless music.

I believe that this was Andrew Lawrence-King's first recording (1986) – a sterling effort which is ample proof of why he went on to become a well-established figure in his field. He has appeared on numerous recordings, including many with Jordi Savall's Hesperian XX, and is currently the director of the Harp Consort. The program is both musically interesting and eminently listenable; and given Lawrence-King's credentials (he won an Organ Scholarship to Selwyn College, Cambridge and completed his studies at the London Early Music Centre), his understanding of the material is unquestionably comprehensive. His technical execution is equally impressive.

A baroque harp called arpa doppia (meaning double harp). It was an instrument that strongly fascinated people, coloring all kinds of music, including vocal, instrumental, religious, and secular music. Although much of its history is ambiguous, it was written by V. Galilei (father of astronomer Galilei and a music theorist). Shortly before 1580, his double-stringed harp (corresponding to the white and black keys on a keyboard) containing semitones arrived in Italy. It seems that it was conveyed. In the early 17th century, he devised an instrument with three strings (corresponding to white keys, black keys, and white keys). All six of his composers included here are from or have ties to Naples. Although they are rarely mentioned in the ``Harp'', they ushered in a new style of keyboard music and greatly expanded the possibilities of the harp.

The King's Noyse are a terrific ensemble who have made a lot of very good discs indeed over the years. This is among them. It is billed as a disc from 1995 of dance music and song from Italy between about 1580 and 1650, which though strictly accurate, may be a little misleading. Lively dance rhythms are certainly there, but a good deal of the disc is contemplative and sometimes rather melancholy in feel. There are single works by both Monteverdi and Gesualdo but the other works are largely by much more obscure composers, and although I know a little of some like Rovetta and Castello, most were completely new to me. I always like to be introduced to new composers, and the music is very fine throughout the disc.

As you like - jocular, sensual, dramatic. opia delves into the musical depths of this game - merging literature from the Renaissance to the early Baroque.

Jordi Savall - Lachrimae Caravaggio (2007) {Alia Vox AVSA9852}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 376 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 181 Mb | Front, Back | 5% repair rar
© 2007 Alia Vox | AVSA 9852
Classical / Renaissance / Contemporary Classical / Chamber Music / Viola da gamba

Jordi Savall has created another lavishly produced and sonically gorgeous album for Alia Vox. Here the theme is the art of Caravaggio, specifically, seven of his most wrenching paintings, all on Biblical or religious themes, six of them images of death, or near-death, and five of them are violent. The program booklet includes reproductions of the paintings and reflective essays by Dominique Fernandez. This collection of 30 pieces differs from many of Savall's releases in that it includes many of his original works, as well as many improvisations, in addition to only a few pieces by Renaissance composers.