Sandro Volta - Marco DallAquila: La Battaglia Music for Lute, Vol. 2 '2016

Tracks list

Tracklist

01. Recercar No. 101
02. Priambolo No. 71
03. Recercar No. 19
04. Recercar senza canto No. 15
05. Fantasia casteliono, 1536
06. Recercar No. 16
07. Fantasia No. 23
08. Recercar No. 18
09. Recercar No. 25
10. Recercar No. 21
11. Fantasia on Vous usurpes
12. Fantasia No. 29
13. La battaglia No. 65
14. Cest a grand tort No. 95
15. Jayme le cueur de mamye No. 98
16. La traditora No. 38
17. Recercar No. 68
18. Recercar No. 70
19. La traditora a due liuti No. 38A-38D
20. Bernardo non puol stare a due liuti No. 40-40A



The music on this album has its origins in an exciting moment of the history of
the lute. It stands at the crossroads of an evolving technique: from performance
primarily using a plectrum, to the use of the fingers of the right hand
alongside the plectrum, to fingers alone. It was also a moment of innovation in
the notation of music: tablature dates from this period, a simple but ingenious
method of representing the strings. Into this period of rapid and exciting
development came Marco Dall’Aquila, one of Italy’s most prominent
lutenists of the time. Dall’Aquila was one of the forerunners of
tablature, petitioning the Doge of Venice for permission to print and sell his
tablature, marketed at those unable to read traditionally notated music.
Although little of Dall’Aquila’s printed music survives, it
reached the Herwarth manuscripts in Munich, where much of it remains today.
Since then, a comprehensive corpus of Dall’Aquila’s music has been
printed by The Lute Society, and this recording is based on that 2014 edition by
Denys Stephens and John Robinson, with personal edits made by the artist.

Sandro Volta is an experienced performer of Renaissance and Baroque lute
repertoire. He has already made several recordings for Brilliant Classics,
including music for lute by Francesco Da Milano, Dall’Aquila’s
main rival. This CD is the second volume
of Dall’Aquila’s lute music; the first (BC94805) was described as
‘immaculate’ by MusicWeb International. Listeners looking to
explore beyond the established figures of Italian Renaissance lute music will
find much to satisfy them with this album.

The late 15th century saw several significant changes in the lute’s
morphology: the move from 5-course to 6-course instruments coincided with more
extensive polyphonic writing and led to a gradual abandonment of the plectrum
for plucking the strings, in favour of the fingers which are more suitable for
polyphony.
In this period of rapid musical development the Ricercar became the most
important musical form, alongside with the dance music and
“paraphrases” of liturgical and secular vocal music. Marco
Dall’Aquila became one of the most prominent lute players and composers
in this period. The originality of Marco’s writing, which is always
idiomatic in the way it explores the lute’s full range of sounds and
expressive potential, is balanced between the 15th century mastery of
improvisation and the new trend towards polyphony inspired by vocal music.
Master lutenist Sandro Volta recorded already works by Dall’Aquila for
Brilliant Classics (BC94805), to great critical acclaim: “the performances
of these technically challenging works by Sandro Volta are immaculate”
(Musicweb).

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