Despres: Mille Regretz

Bruce Dickey is one of a handful of musicians worldwide who have dedicated themselves to reviving the cornetto. For this collection, he has chosen a wide range of pieces; instrumental canzonas by composers of the Neapolitan school (Tartaglino, Mayone and Trabaci), six canzonas by the Venetian Guami, four sets of divisions on motets and madrigals and three solo motets with basso continuo.

For centuries the Carinthian Organ Tablature from around 1560 was a fragment in the archives and is heard here for the first time in recorded form. The manuscript includes works by Senfl, Desprez, de la Rue and Mouton and was discovered by Novak. During the sixteenth century, if a choir was not available, the organ assumed the repertoire of the singers, so the tablature includes many arrangements of mass selections, chansons and motets.

The elegant, keyless, cylindrical flute of the sixteenth century had a reedy, penetrating sound, closer to the cornetto than to any other wind instrument of the day. It had an impressive range of two and a half octaves and an evenness of tone quality that would not be matched again until the nineteenth century.

The pieces on this recording focus on repertoire for the renaissance flute consort, almost all of which was originally vocal music.

This CD includes works by Antonio de Cabezón, Nicolas Gombert and Josquin Desprez. The imperial composers are the echo of a power that extended to every activity of the court, as well as the irrefutable proof of the greatest musical glory in Europe.

Early music specialist, baritone Furio Zanasi and La Chimera pay tribute to the Italian singer, Francesco Rasi (1574-1621), one of the most fascinating musicians produced by the early Baroque era in Italy.

The programme devised by La Chimera is organised in three sections, each of them representing one of the amatory conditions that Francesco Rasi regularly treated in the works he sang or composed. Francesco Rasi (1574-1621), poet, composer and singer, quickly established a reputation as an exceptional singer and a virtuoso exponent of the lute. His love of travelling saw him meet outstanding musicians including: Luca Marenzio, Jacapo Peri, Marco da Gagliano and Claudio Monteverdi. His splendid vocal talents in turn influenced these great composers, creating, for example, the title role in Monteverdi’s ‘Orfeo’.

La Chimera was formed in 2001 as a viol ensemble by Sabina Colonna-Preti. Since meeting Eduardo Egüez and Quito Gato it has turned into a complete baroque ensemble.

A well-known recording artist with over 50 CDs to his credit, lutenist Jacob Heringman has received particular praise for his numerous solo recordings, all of which have been unique in the marketplace and have rightly earned Jacob his reputation for revealing undeservedly neglected repertoire from the renaissance era. The Art of the Lute Player contains Jacob’s personal selection of his favourite tracks from his acclaimed catalogue. Whilst catering to the specialist early music market, the CD’s widespread appeal is in its intimate, contemplative and relaxing mood.