Luca Quintavalle - Italian Contemporary Music for Harpsichord '2021

Tracks list

Tracklist

01. Preludio
02. Filastrocca
03. Mordenti
04. Toccatina
05. Quando il passato era ancora presente
06. Neumi
07. Suite francese: I. Preludio
08. Suite francese: II. Aria
09. Suite francese: III. Toccata
10. Petit ordre: I. L'astrolabe
11. Petit ordre: II. L'africaine
12. Petit ordre: III. Air tendre
13. Petit ordre: IV. Ciel du nord
14. Undici variazioni per Ruggero: I. Sereno, ritual
15. Undici variazioni per Ruggero: II. Con slancio e ritmo
16. Undici variazioni per Ruggero: III. Oscuro, meccanico
17. Undici variazioni per Ruggero: IV. Grandioso
18. Undici variazioni per Ruggero: V. Incalzante
19. Undici variazioni per Ruggero: VI. Danza
20. Undici variazioni per Ruggero: VII. Fluido
21. Undici variazioni per Ruggero: VIII. Lontano
22. Undici variazioni per Ruggero: IX. Presto
23. Undici variazioni per Ruggero: X. Dolce
24. Undici variazioni per Ruggero: XI. 6 variazioni sul Ruggiero
25. Mambo
26. Rumbling gears
27. Ricercare per clavicembalo
28. Blues
29. Giannizzeri e gendarmi: I. Agitato
30. Giannizzeri e gendarmi: II. Ansioso, flessibile, non troppo lento
31. Giannizzeri e gendarmi: III. Austero
32. Giannizzeri e gendarmi: IV. Ostile, umorale
33. Giannizzeri e gendarmi: V. Ampio
34. Giannizzeri e gendarmi: VI. Agile, elastic
35. Giannizzeri e gendarmi: VII. Sereno
36. 3 Post per Scarlatti: I. Sonata
37. 3 Post per Scarlatti: II. Notturno
38. 3 Post per Scarlatti: III. Presto volando
39. Chop Suey
40. Speaking
41. Techno Scene
42. Short Stories for harpsichord and Electronics: I. —
43. Short Stories for harpsichord and Electronics: II. —
44. Short Stories for harpsichord and Electronics: III. —
45. Short Stories for harpsichord and Electronics: IV. —
46. Short Stories for harpsichord and Electronics: V. —
47. Suite préliminaire: I. Pré ludique
48. Suite préliminaire: II. Précieux
49. Suite préliminaire: III. Prétérit
50. Suite préliminaire: IV. Perniceux
51. Suite préliminaire: V. Prétentieux
52. Suite préliminaire: VI. Prémices
53. Suite préliminaire: VII. Prédicatif
54. Scarlet K141

A banquet of first recordings, highly original works and composers little known
outside their native Italy in a new recording by one of today’s most
adventurous harpsichordists.

The neoclassical composers of 20s Paris were among the first to revive the
harpsichord as a ‘modern’ instrument, inspired by the stirrings of
the ‘early music’ movement in the hands of musicians such as Nadia
Boulanger and Wanda Landowska. However, the postwar modernists found little use
for it and only in the last few decades, not least thanks to the skill and
imagination of virtuosos such as Elisabeth Chojnacka, Mahan Esfahani and Luca
Quintavalle, has the harpsichord become once more as viable and respectable an
instrument for new music as it was in the days of d’Anglebert and
Couperin.

Indeed the earliest pieces on this survey of modern Italian music for the
harpsichord date back to 1988: Mordenti and Neumi by Ennio Morricone, doyen of
film and specifically spaghetti Western composers but whose training was
thoroughly Classical. Formed of two interlocking chromatic canons, Mordenti in
particular deserves wider attention. Plenty of other works here make play with
the history of the instrument as well as its sonorities, such as Rumbling Gears,
a hyperkinetic toccata by Sylvia Colasanti, and a Ricercare by Fabio Vacchi.

Scarlatti is the inspiration for another piece of Vacchi’s as well as an
ornate elaboration of the same idiom by Jacopo Baboni Schilingi in Scarlet K141.
The Petit Ordre by Carlo Galante explicitly returns to the world of Couperin but
now tinged with modern Quando il passato era ancora presente by harmonies to
evoke a lost world. There are several pieces from the last two years that
inevitably reflect on the experience of solitude enforced by the pandemic, such
as Short Stories by Vittorio Montalti and Leonardo Marino.

With a full introduction to all the works and composers on the album by Luca
Quintavalle, the album makes an arresting introduction to the music of many
composers otherwise hardly represented in the current catalogue, and a
significant new volume in the library of harpsichord music.

This program presents a comprehensive overview of works by contemporary Italian
composers played on the harpsichord, collected by Luca Quintavalle.
Included are pieces for harpsichord already composed but not yet recorded
(Morricone, Fedele, Solbiati, Galante, Cacciatore and Marino), arrangements for
harpsichord by the artist, with the consent of the composer (Vacchi,
Francesconi, Filidei, Lanza, Solbiati, Gervasoni, Colasanti and Antonioni) and
completely new pieces written for the artist (Vacchi, Colombo Taccani, Palumbo,
Baboni Schilingi, Montalti, Capogrosso).
It is fascinating to witness the experiments of contemporary composers when
writing for the harpsichord, this “ancient” instrument, nowadays
mostly used for Renaissance/Baroque music, but proving to be an endless source
of unheard-of sounds and timbres, affects and sonorities.
Luca Quintavalle is one of the most remarkable keyboard players of the moment.
He has collaborated as a soloist with orchestras such as Concerto Köln, Les
Talens Lyriques, Balthasar-Neumann-Ensemble, Cappella Gabetta, Il Canto
d’Orfeo, Harmonie Universelle, Divino Sospiro, Il Pomo d’Oro,
Capella Augustina, La Folia Barockorchester, Kölner Kammerorchester,
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and WDR Sinfonieorchester.
His first solo recording of Jean-Baptiste Barrière’s and Bernard de
Bury's harpsichord music by the label Brilliant Classics was chosen as
“Recording of the month” from MusicWeb International and got really
positive reviews (“a great deal of excellent playing by Luca Quintavalle;
enjoyable listening, which may be unreservedly recommended.” Early
Music-Oxford Journal; “I don't expect this recording to be
surpassed” American Record Guide. Recently he recorded the Piano Sonatas
by Anton Eberl for Brilliant Classics, to great critical acclaim.

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