La Pazza - A madman's apology
Anon
S'io son pazzo [3:14]
Sigismondo D'INDIA (c1582-before 1629)
Tutto il dě piango [3:07]
Giovanni Maria TRABACI (1575-1647)
Consonanze stravaganti [2:40]
Anon
La Pazzia [12:42]
Romanesca (harp) [2:06]
Barbara STROZZI (1619-1677)
L'Eraclito amoroso [6:27]
Anon
Romanesca (harpsichord) [2:11]
Francesca CACCINI (1587-after 1641)
Lasciatemi qui solo [6:29]
Anon
Romanesca (lute consort) [1:46]
Barbara STROZZI
Č pazzo il mio core [5:34]
Gianpietro DEL BUONO (?-after 1657)
LXXVII, Obligo di dui Zoppi, e dui Ciechi [2:34]
Benedetto FERRARI (1603/04-1681)
Occhi miei [4:29]
Giovanni Maria TRABACI
Durezze e ligature [2:07]
Claudio MONTEVERDI (1567-1643)
Voglio di vita uscir (SV 337) [5:55]
Flavio Ferri-Benedetti (alto)
Il Profondo (Amélie Chemin, Sophie Lamberbourg, Jonathan Pesek (viola da gamba),
Federico Abraham (violone, double bass), Masako Art (harp), Daniele Caminiti
(theorbo, archlute), Josías Rodríguez Gándara (archlute, guitar), Mirko Arnone
(colascione, mandolin), Johannes Keller (harpsichord))
rec. July 2013, Hall of Trotte Pfyn, Thurgau, Switzerland. DDD
Texts and translations included
RESONANDO RN10001 [61:29]
Madness is a term which can be used with various meanings,
some serious, some less so. This disc is devoted to madness, but not in the
psychological sense. The most popular subject of secular music in the baroque
era is love, with all its attendant trials and tribulations. The music on
the present disc was written by Italian composers of the 17th century and
in each piece the protagonist talks about his experiences of love. Lovers
tend to lose control of their feelings, and that makes these pieces fit for
a programme about madness.
Some of the items recorded here are quite serious. That certainly goes for
Tutto il dě piango by Sigismondo d'India, on a text by Francesco
Petrarca: "I cry all day and then, at night, when poor mortals rest,
I find myself in tears and my grief redoubles". In the same vein Francesca
Caccini's Lasciatemi qui solo begins with the words: "Leave
me alone here, fly back to your nest, ye birds, while I breathe out on this
shore both my soul and my grief". One of the tribulations of love which
is a returning subject in baroque cantatas is the fickleness of the beloved.
That subject is expressed in L'Eraclito amoroso by Barbara
Strozzi: "[In] my fair beloved, faithfulness is dead - he, that I believed
to be so faithful!"
Their sad experiences in love drives them mad. However, in Strozzi's
Č pazzo il mio core we meet another form of madness: "My heart
is crazy since, always delirious, it loves a face that is all cruelty".
In Monteverdi's Voglio di vita uscir another unhappy lover
even wants to die: "I want to die! I want my bones to turn into dust,
my limbs into ashes". The lover in Occhi miei by Benedetto Ferrari,
though, has another idea: "I can well say that extreme grief does not
kill!".
Probably the most intriguing and unusual part of this disc is the anonymous
La Pazzia. It is a kind of hotchpotch of contrasting thoughts and
feelings, with various musical forms and in different dialects. It is especially
here that the madness of a lover is exposed. "Whoever does not know me
will say that mine is true madness, that makes me happy. But all is rage,
love's very effect, remaining in my heart". The next passage in
the text shows what to expect: "I would like to versify: 'O heaven,
o earth, o sea!' No, no, I want to sing 'la sol fa mi fa re'".
What to make of a piece like this. Do we have to take it seriously, or is
it a satire on the many pieces about love written in his time? Anyway, it
is most intriguing, and I think that it is rightly interpreted here with considerably
liberty and in a theatrical style. This piece is an example of the differentiation
with which the various pieces on the programme are treated. Another example
is the anonymous S'io son pazzo which opens the programme
and includes ironic and 'serious' elements; both come off very
well here.
The music on this disc is from the time in which composers aimed at stirring
the emotions of the listeners and therefore tried to express in their compositions
affects which are related to the texts. It was the task of the performers
to communicate those affects. To that end they had various devices at their
disposal: the colouring of the voice, dynamic inflections (including messa
di voce), rhythmic flexibility and ornamentation. All of these tools
are explored here, integrated into a natural unity, in the interests of expression.
An example of the colouring of the voice is that Flavio Ferri-Benedetti sometimes
switches to his chest register. I don't always see the reason for that,
but it is certainly appropriate in the above-mentioned La Pazzia.
It is clear that he feels completely at home in that particular piece. He
is equally convincing in Lasciatemi qui solo, a magnificent piece
by Francesca Caccini. The refrain "Lasciatemi morire" (Let me die)
is sung with great subtlety.
The first half of the 17th century was also a time of experiments in the realms
of harmony. That is particularly exposed here in the two instrumental pieces
by Giovanni Maria Trabaci, originally written for harp or a keyboard instrument
but performed here with a consort of viols - a completely legitimate choice.
Another striking example is the aria Occhi miei by Benedetto Ferrara
which ends with a line full of chromaticism and dissonants. Obviously the
perfect intonation of Ferri-Benedetti and the instrumentalists is an essential
prerequisite to the expression of the affetti.
The role of the instruments is an aspect of this recording which deserves
some attention. Johannes Keller discusses at length the way the basso continuo
is realized. Today we are used to seeing various instruments in the basso
continuo section of an ensemble, and in performances of 17th-century Italian
operas the number of basso continuo instruments is sometimes considerable,
and a mixture of chordal (keyboard, harp, plucked instruments) and string
instruments (viola da gamba, lirone). Here the voice is sometimes supported
by a single instrument - harpsichord, harp - and in other cases by a consort
or even various consorts of instruments. "Our instruments can be organized
into three 'choirs': a four-voice viol consort; a lute consort
comprising of two archlutes, theorbo and harp; and a harpsichord, which performs
both a disconnecting and a connecting function", Keller writes in the
booklet. This way some pieces are closer to a polyphonic madrigal than to
a monody. I don't know what to think of that; it sounds very well,
but that is no argument in favour of this practice. I would like to see some
historical evidence for it. In that respect this disc gives some food for
thought.
The same goes for the inclusion of a mandolin in the instrumental ensemble.
Today this instrument plays a marginal role in musical life and is mostly
associated with some works by Vivaldi. However, it is known that the mandolin
has been in use since the late 16th century; it probably played a more important
role than we are inclined to think. Maybe it is time to give it a more prominent
place in performances of 17th-century repertoire.
Italian music from the first half of the 17th century is often recorded, but
unfortunately many discs plough over the same repertoire. These artists deserve
praise for avoiding the obvious and presenting a programme of little-known
and even completely unknown pieces. This way their disc is a useful addition
to the catalogue. All the pieces included here are of fine quality and deserve
to be performed and heard, and the performances are excellent. These factors
make this a disc not to be missed.
Johan van Veen
www.musica-dei-donum.org
twitter.com/johanvanveen
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