DISCOGRAPHY

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Il Viaggio di Lucrezia


Italian music for double harp


GCD 921301

 

Giovanni Maria Trabaci, TOCCATA SECONDA-MP3

 

"Il Viaggio di Lucrezia" is one of Glossa's 4 or 5 cult CDs. Mainly promoted by word of mouth, this 1998 release got a Cannes Classical Award in 2001. In the meanwhile, Mara Galassi, who is Europe's foremost specialist in historical harp performance and regularly tours the world with Rinaldo Alessandrini and René Jacobs, has decided to devote more time to her own projects. At Glossa, we heartily welcome this decision and will produce an average of one new CD per year with her. Scheduled for April is a recording entitled "Harpes du Ciel", in which Galassi will explore, together with harpist Gabriella Bosio, the fascinating music which surrounded Marie Antoniette at the end of the 18th century.

"Le Voyage de Lucrèce retrace le parcours imaginaire d'une virtuose de la harpe, Lucrezia Urbana, dans l'Italie du début du XVIIe siècle : d'abord à Naples, puis à Mantoue, Rome et Florence, avec des échos de Ferrare et Venise... L'ensemble est présenté sous forme d'échange épistolaire entre Lucrezia et son influente protectrice, la marquise de Chiana, grâce à onze lettres qui tiennent lieu de "texte de présentation". Rédigées avec un sens très fin du pastiche par Mara Galassi et Diego Fratelli, ces lettres retracent la commune passion de l'expérimentation musicale qui saisit les milieux novateurs du sud au nord de la Péninsule, et dont les échos se portent fort loin de leur centre originel.

Mara Galassi est d'une éloquence souveraine et transforme chaque toccata en scène de tragédie. Elle rend plausibles les recherches menées par les compositeurs d'un équivalent instrumental de la diction. En ayant extrait de recueils originellement destinés au luth ou au clavier les pièces faisant référence à la harpe, Galassi permet à une dimension souvent ignorée du contrepoint pour cordes pincées de reprendre vie. Mais les transcriptions sont tout aussi extraordinaires, et principalement celles de Piccinini et de Frescobaldi. Au centre du programme, un bouleversant Ancidetemi pur du Napolitain Trabaci, per l'Arpa, qui nous plonge dans l'extrême mélancolie, la passion et les larmes d'un monde en feu."

 

Choc du Monde de la Musique / Cannes Classical Awards 2001
Marc Desmet, Le Monde de la Musique, 01/2001

 

BIO :: CONCERTS :: RECORDINGS :: VOLUPTAS DOLENDI :: LINKS :: INTERVIEW :: CONTACT

 

The imaginary trip of Lucrezia Urbana, a pupil of Giovanni Leonardo dell'Arpa, brings us to the idyllic and bucolic worlds created by painter Alma Tadema, where young Greek girls dream about their lovers, leaning on their friends' laps, while the tulles of their robes dance on the air in front of the Aegean. The idealised world of this decadent painter is reflected by the musical gift Mara Galassi brings us in this recording. It is no longer necessary to have a chapel to hear this beautiful music from the past, neglected so far by mass culture. Now, by only pressing a button we have it immediately as many times as we desire and we can escape (why not?) momentarily from oppressive reality.

 

The transcriptions included (from keyboard and plucked strings sources) are rendered with such detail, that they seem originally written for the harp. And in her marvellous performance, the young harpist shows great sensibility and taste. The selection is personal but it has an amazing coherence and could have been easily meant as an anthology for that period. The recording is ideal for the music and the instrument.   The CD and booklet are beautifully designed and laid out. Additions to this beauty are the modern paintings by Hector Ortega (on the cover and booklet) and the notes on the imaginary trip of the harpist written by Galassi and Diego Fratello. There we are told of the wanderings of Lucrezia, always in touch with great artists and receiving advice from the most noted teachers. It is a jewel and should be wrapped in beautiful gift paper. Please give it to someone you love and let yourself be carried away by the sweet breeze it exhales.

 

 

 IL VIAGGIO DI LUCREZIA
Music for baroque double harp
GCD 921301

Production details

Recorded in Clauzetto, Italy, in July 1998

Engineered by ISIDRO MATAMOROS
Produced and edited by SIGRID LEE

Total playing time 60:00

Design: CARLOS CÉSTER
Booklet coordination: MARÍA DÍAZ
On the cover: Painting by Héctor Ortega

Booklet texts

Mara Galassi & Diego Fratello
English, French, Spanish, Italian

Bar code

8 424562 21301 2

PROGRAM

 

IL VIAGGIO DI LUCREZIA

1 DENTICE Fantasia
2 DENTICE Galliarda Bella
3 LUZZASCHI Toccata
4 DELL'ARPA Lucretia Gentil
5 MAYONE Toccata
6 ANONYMOUS Toccata
7 MONTEVERDI Ch'i' t'ami
8 RAIMONDO Cassandra
9 TRABACI Toccata
10 TRABACI Partite artificiose
11 MAYONE Recercare
12 TRABACI Ancidetemi pur
13 KAPSBERGER Toccata
14 PICCININI Toccata
15 PICCININI Partite variate
16 PICCININI Corrente
17 PICCININI Chiaccona
18 FRESCOBALDI Toccata
19 FRESCOBALDI Pasagalli
20 ANONYMOUS Son fonte e fiumi
21 ANONYMOUS Canzone
22 ANONYMOUS Dalla Porta d'Oriente
23 GALILEI Toccata

 

 

***

"Harps du Ciel"
Mara Galassi with Gabriella Bosio
Glossa 921-302

W.A.Mozart-Andante d-moll

***

" Viola Bastarda "
Olive Music om 010

Hernando de Cabezon - Dulce Memoria

***

"Gesualdo" Concerto Italiano/ R. Alessandrini,
Opus 111,ops 30-238

Carlo Gesualdo da Venosa (1561-1613) - Canzone del Principe

***

" Scherzi Musicali", Concerto Soave , with Maria Cristina Kiehr soprano
HMC 901855

Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) Se il languidi miei sguardi

***

"Pianto della Madonna, Concerto Soave, with Maria Cristina Kiehr soprano
HM 901680

Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) Pianto della Madonna

***

"Cristoforo Caresana, Per la Nascita del Verbo"
Cappella della Pietà dei Turchini
ops 30-152

Bernardo Storace ( XVII sec) Passagagli con partite pastorali

***

" Salon deFemmes ", Musica Petropolitana, Olga Pasichnyk soprano
op 30299

Jean Baptiste Cardon (1760 - 1803) Arbre Charmant,
Nataly Kourakin ( ?) Quand nos jours, navrés de tristesse

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BIO :: CONCERTS :: RECORDINGS :: VOLUPTAS DOLENDI :: LINKS :: INTERVIEW :: CONTACT

 

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