Kieffer

The plectrum lute duo was one of the most popular ensembles for professional instrumentalists in late 15th-century Western Europe. This recording presents for the first time the bulk of a surviving repertoire that can arguably be considered for the lute duo, performed on two equal plectrum lutes or with a combination of lute and gittern - a smaller member of the lute family.

Composer George Kieffer and Navona Records are proud to present THE AMBASSADOR'S WIFE, a collection of stories and dialectical thought conveyed through the sounds of the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. Featured on this album is Kieffer’s Fanfare for the Olympics, a piece dedicated to the sacrifices made and triumph achieved by athletes, which premiered at the 2015 Special Olympics.

6 juin 1944. 176 jeunes volontaires, avec à leur tête le commandant Kieffer, sont les premiers et les seuls Français à fouler les plages de Normandie. Qui sont ces jeunes hommes entraînés durement depuis des mois en Grande-Bretagne qui s'emparent du casino de Ouistreham avant de libérer la ville?

The plectrum lute duo was one of the most popular ensembles for professional instrumentalists in late 15th-century Western Europe. This recording presents for the first time the bulk of a surviving repertoire that can arguably be considered for the lute duo, performed on two equal plectrum lutes or with a combination of lute and gittern - a smaller member of the lute family. The album, inspired by the Ferrarese virtuoso Pietrobono dal Chitarino (c. 1417–1497), acclaimed in his lifetime as ‘the foremost lutenist in the world’, includes the earliest printed lute duos by Francesco Spinacino and Joan Ambrosio Dalza and the two-voice instrumental works by Johannes Tinctoris. The often highly ornamented instrumental duos are mostly reworkings of songs, some of which are given here in a performance with the singer Grace Newcombe to provide the context for the lute arrangements that follow.

6 juin 1944. On l'oublie trop souvent, cent soixante-dix-sept jeunes volontaires, avec à leur tête le commandant Kieffer, sont les premiers et les seuls français à fouler les plages de Normandie. Rattachés à la première brigade spéciale britannique, ses hommes entraînés durement depuis des mois en Grande-Bretagne s'emparent du casino et du port de Ouistreham.

D-Day, gli alleati assaltano le coste della Normandia, nel più grande sbarco anfibio che l’uomo ricordi. Lo scopo è liberare il continente europeo dal nazismo, e la Francia è la prima e decisiva tappa. A ottenere di essere tra i primi a sbarcare, il n°1 French Troop. Unità francese. Fondata e guidata da Philippe Kieffer, e facente parte del commando n° 10 interalleato…