The idea behind this recording by the acclaimed harpist Oliver Wass (first prize winner at the "Suoni d'Arpa" International Competition and now professor at the Royal College of Music in London) is to juxtapose music by Misha Mullov-Abbado with works by (mostly) Italian composers from four earlier centuries. The artist's ambition was to record the music he commissioned from Misha Mullov-Abbado and pair it with music for modern harp and Italian triple harp. The album is in fact performed on an Italian triple harp for the early repertoire, and on a modern pedal harp for the classical and modern repertoire. The performance also includes a chamber music section featuring Henry Roberts on flute, Luba Tunnicliffe on viola-both members, along with Wass, of the Pelléas Ensemble-and Gabriela Opacka-Boccadoro on violin. The CD also features a highly fascinating world premiere recording (and performance) of the Concerto for Harp and Orchestra by Luigi Molino, recorded live at the opening concert of the "Suoni d'Arpa" Festival in Saluzzo (Cuneo) on August 24, 2024. Oliver Wass here is accompanied by the Ensemble APM orchestra, conducted by Luca Vacchetti.
Barbara Strozzi, a Venetian singer and composer who lived between 1619 and 1677, stands out as a rare jewel in the musical landscape of the Italian Seicento. The adoptive (and perhaps natural) daughter of Giulio Strozzi, a man of letters belonging to the illustrious Florentine family, she rejected the alternative prospects of matrimony or life in a convent in order to devote herself entirely to her one true passion: music. Moreover, she aimed to assert herself not merely as a performer, but also as a composer, thereby transgressing the strict rules of the period. Over the course of twenty years she published over a hundred and twenty cantatas and other works for solo voice, a number unequalled by any of her contemporaries. In her most significant works she combines the absolute originality of her formal structures with extraordinarily intense and exuberant poetics of the "affects." In these respects her vocal writing is comparable only with that of the century's greatest Italian composer, Claudio Monteverdi. After five successful albums with Giuliano Carmignola and Mario Brunello, the Accademia dell'Annunciata, conducted by Riccardo Doni, offers us a portrait of this extraordinary artist, arguably the greatest Italian composer of all time. In an era when the music scene was almost exclusively male, Barbara Strozzi managed to carve out a unique place for herself, becoming one of the most fascinating personalities of 17th-century music, a figure that is today given voice by soprano Laura Catrani.
A prevailing feature of music of the 16th century and earlier was a split between the deployment of voices and instruments: occasionally replacing each other, or used in alternation - a more concerted effort in writing dedicated instrumental music with increasing degrees of complexity and virtuosity was taking place. The penchant for writing stories about love in it's many forms continued, finding a new home in the developing operatic works as well as the ever-popular madrigal genre, as composers continued to find ways to describe the joy, grief, despair and ecstasy of the human experience of love. Cupid's Ground Bass is a celebration of these developing musical aesthetics of early 17th century Italy, focusing particularly on the composers' language of love in all it's forms.
The Venetian Barbara Strozzi did not have to emancipate herself in order to be recognized as an artist and composer. And this, despite the fact that she-the illegitimate daughter of a maid and her lord-should, according to common estimation, have been happy to have amounted to "anything" at all. However, her father, himself a writer and full of wit in the true sense of the word, adopted her and ensured that she received a proper education. The rest was all down to this exceptionally talented young girl herself. The worthy student of the famous Francesco Cavalli could even afford to publish her works under her own name. She was a fixture in the cultural life of her city, which obviously took great pleasure in the extraordinarily emotional worlds of this intimate music. Listen and enjoy!
Ménestrel-the Canadian early music ensemble of soprano-violinist Janelle Lucyk and tenor-lutenist Kerry Bursey-mix ancient repertoire with Canadian oral folk traditions. In an age defined by acceleration and artifice, their debut album, Ménestrel, reaches backward, not to escape the modern world, but to examine it's emotional roots. They gather songs drawn from several centuries and traditions, from the luminous melancholy of John Dowland to the ardent intimacy of Barbara Strozzi, from the refined contours of French Renaissance chanson to the rugged sincerity of Celtic and English folk ballads. The name ménestrel refers to the medieval minstrel, a musician who moved between written and oral traditions and carried songs across regions and generations. Janelle and Kerry draw on that lineage as they bring early music and folk repertoire into close conversation. Their approach highlights the continuity between these traditions, focusing on clarity, text, and the shared expressiveness that links courtly song with vernacular melody. Formed in 2019, Ménestrel bridges historical performance and Canadian oral folk traditions, and the ensemble has given performances and collaborated with singers and choirs in all of Canada's 13 provinces and territories. Janelle Lucyk is a singer and producer among an emerging generation of Canadian artists specializing in early music and historically informed performance, taking ideas from conception to the stage. Kerry Bursey is a tenor and plucked string instrumentalist whose voice is appreciated for it's luminous quality, and as a sought-after lutenist, he is also invested in the rare practice of self-accompaniment in early and folk music of northwestern traditions. Their concerts aim to demystify early music, juxtaposing it next to folk songs, which are songs of the people.
