album

The works that are featured on the present disc were all written during an extremely fertile period in the history of the mandolin. The inventive inquisitiveness of Baroque musicians took them in the direction of the subtlest of sonorities, and no sound was more subtle than that of the mandolin.

This brings us to the end of our fascinating exploration of the world of the Italian Baroque. The works by Capponi, Romaldi and Susier have long been familiar to the Baroque ensemble Artemandoline, and their performances come up to the very highest expectations.

This unpublished music has been overshadowed for far too long but will impress its present-day listeners with its blend of grandeur and charm, qualities that its performers have brought to light to perfection.

This ambitious program is magnificently interpreted and well calculated to seduce its listeners. The Italian sonata constitutes an independent genre in the musical life of this period and quickly became an integral part of court entertainments in the palaces of the peninsula.

The music from scores found in various libraries throughout Europe has never been recorded. This particularly motivated us for the project.  In short, a CD which will enable many to discover the still widely unknown aspects of the baroque mandolin.

The airs are beautifully crafted not only in the nobility of the vocal lines which are refined and dignified, unencumbered by ostentatious coloratura,but also in their rich and varied orchestration.

This Venetian « fragrance »is a wonderful reflection of the unique spirit of the Italian baroque era with its abundant festivities, fireworks, masks, its splendor …

In summary this record is full of energy and enthusiasm. Guitar and lute enrich the continuo of many pieces. The mandolins acquire a strength and vivacity that would not lend them. The execution, not content to be remarkable, is simply sublime and splendid by the life that circulates in this cd.

This cd is : a perfume from Italy : ostinato, improvisation and a real pleasure, complete of virtuosity and nuances, in short : the musicians enjoy themselves fully.

A record essential in your music library, it inspires a joy of live!

The composers who are included in the present CD sought to enchant their listeners by seducing and entertaining them. Their works are constructed along clear-cut harmonic lines that conceal within them appreciable ornamental details, exploiting rich harmonic patterns that underscore a remarkable degree of harmonic invention. But nor should we overlook the ingredients that add a certain spice to these pieces: ternary forms, triplets alternating with binary values, contrastive melodies and Neapolitan sixths. All, in short, are the quintessence of “Neapolitan excellence”.

This recording affords an historical insight into the musical and instrumental heritage of the mandolin, a heritage which, even if it is not well known, is none the less of great interest and value.

The ensemble Artemandoline did extensive research into this genre, taking painstaking efforts to recreate this perfumed era of the Stile Galante, playing period instruments.

« Galant pleasures », seems an apt description
for this release, which presents a charming
selection of works written for the mandolin
in 18th century in Paris.

Zaneboni, Altieri, Cifolelli, de Gistau, de
Ferreira: many of the composers included
hailed from different parts of Europe,
eventually settling in Paris where music for
the mandolin was reaching its zenith.

Other information:

Recorded in August 2012.

In summary this record is full of energy and enthusiasm. Guitar and lute enrich the continuo of many pieces. The mandolins acquire a strength and vivacity that would not lend them. The execution, not content to be remarkable, is simply sublime and splendid by the life that circulates in this cd.

This cd is : a perfume from Italy : ostinato, improvisation and a real pleasure, complete of virtuosity and nuances, in short : the musicians enjoy themselves fully.

A record essential in your music library, it inspires a joy of live !

Rich and complex, Baroque music explored new means of expression; primarily new tones. Baroque musicians’ enthusiasm for the most refined sounds, including the mandolin, led them to seek aesthetics and sonority to an extreme degree.

Which is why we must lend an attentive, careful ear to this disk.

Artemandoline offers here a very jovial program that offers a wide variety of rhythms and timbres.

Formed in 2001, the ensemble Artemandoline has worked tirelessly over the years towards the revival of the mandolin, giving new prominence to and widening the repertoire of this beautiful and unfairly neglected instrument. Artemandoline is acclaimed by audiences and critics alike for its rigorous and scrupulously researched, yet fresh, spontaneous and exciting performances.

This disc offers a radical reinterpretation of this captivating music.

OTHER INFORMATION:

Recording: August 2012, Église Romane de Mont-Saint-Martin, Longwy, France. Performed on period instruments.

No music has been as vigorously energetic as that of the Baroque period, which is a hymn to life, feelings, and emotions, the striving for detail and beauty, le beau éternel…

It is therefore a great fresco of life itself that awaits you when you enter the magical world of plucked string instruments: a plethora of images, sounds and colours, light and shadow.

« Is it not strange that sheep’s guts should hale souls of men’s bodies? » Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, II, 3

An  invitation to the intimate setting of an Austrian or Italian Court at the beginning of the  XVIIIth century.

Contrasting voices and instruments performing as a solo or together will compete with charm and impetuosity to conjure  up the vivacity and the beauty of the  Italian music at the time. The program includes Cantatas by Caldara, Bononcini, Conti, Händel, Albinoni, Hasse, Gasparini, Paisiello and Mancini.