Arpeggiata Yarantella

On his newest recording for ECM’s New Series, lute virtuoso Rolf Lislevand turns to the revolutionary Baroque literature for archlute and chitarrone, interpreting 17th century lute composers’ works largely found in their first printed books – their respective libri primi. In striking solo performances, the Norwegian explores the progressive nature of pieces by the Italians Johann Hieronymous Kapsberger, Giovanni Paolo Foscarini and Bernardo Gianoncelli as well as two Recerercadas of Spaniard Diego Ortiz. Lislevand takes historically informed liberties in his interpretations, improvising frequently, as was custom at the time, and even contributes his own personal study of the challenging Passacaglia form with his “Passacaglia al modo mio”. The modernity of this music’s melodic and rhythmic sensibility throughout can be surprising, substantiating Lislevand’s deeper dive into this repertoire.

Alte Musik-Star Hille Perl und ihr Trio Los Otros sind bekannt für ihre hochspannenden musikalischen Entdeckungsreisen, die nun in der dhm-Edition "Los Otros" erstmals zusammengeführt werden. Das Trio begann mit der Aufnahme "Tinto", die sich ganz um das Thema "Tanz" drehte. Die zweite Veröffentlichung war 2004 das Album "Aguirre" mit bisher unentdeckten Kompositionen von Sebastián de Aguirre, die in einem mexikanischen Kloster gefunden wurden.

Is it fair for baroque to sound so sensual? An elegiac soprano voice wafts above an instrumental piece by Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger. Flamenco rhythms underpin a passacaglia. Then suddenly we hear the typical harmonies and ornaments of Celtic folk music. Is that how this music really sounded in Italy in the early 1600s? Of course not. But what the Norwegian lutenist and guitarist Rolf Lislevand and his six colleagues bring off on Nuove musiche, their début album for ECM, has all the earmarks of a manifesto.

Rhiannon Giddens's latest album, there is no Other, recorded with Italian multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi, is set for release on May 3, 2019, on Nonesuch Records. Produced by Joe Henry and tracked over an intensely productive five-day period in Dublin, Ireland, there is no Other is at once a condemnation of "othering" and a celebration of the spread of ideas, connectivity, and shared experience.

Despite the severely modern appearance of this 2006 ECM New Series album, from the abstract cover art to the booklet's somber black and white landscape photos, this is really a collection of early music by Arcangelo Corelli, Giulio Caccini, Maurizio Cazzati, and other less familiar composers of the Baroque era. Stephen Stubbs and his brilliant ensemble Teatro Lirico are masters of their period instruments, and their historically informed performances – in many cases, revivals – of obscure Baroque repertoire have garnered attention worldwide.

“This awareness of belonging to several space-times is as basic to us as respiration, as inspiration.” That pretty much sums up Ensemble Constantinople's open and unifying musical projects. Here is yet another one, under the Analekta label: Metamorfosi – Impressions Baroques. With this thirteenth album, the group follows the course set by their previous album, Early Dreams.

The pre-eminent New York-based vocal ensemble TENET debuts on Avie with ‘UNO + ONE: Italia Nostra’, an imaginatively programmed and idiomatically performed recording that features the canzonette, arie and scherzi by Monteverdi, alongside contemporary Italian masters Castaldi, Castello, Kapsberger, Pesenti and Rossi.