The Naples of Antonio Valente was the principal city of the Spanish Empire of the day, second only to Istanbul of Mediterranean cities in population, a cultural and intellectual hub where ideas were traded as readily as goods at the port. This is the context for ready wit and vivid characters dancing before us in the harpsichord manuscript left to us as the principal work of an instrumental virtuoso who was blind from birth. Little else is known of Valente, though he became an organist in one of the city's private chapel between 1565 and 1580, and we know that this Intavolatura was published in 1576, by which time the composer's reputation had spread far beyond the kingdom of Naples. It seems certain that the collection was the first of it's kind to be written in southern Italy. These are popular dances rather than original melodies, and Valente transcribes and elaborates them in various genres of song and dance: there are hymns (a Salve Regina), galliards, ricercars, ballads, even a flamboyant 'Bascia Flammignia', placed in exuberant juxtaposition, hardly designed to be heard in strict order but a collection to delight and entertain. The Intavolatura does so here, thanks to the imaginative re-instrumentation and sparkling performances of an Italian early-music ensemble, L'Amorosa Caccia. The songs are reattributed to a pair of singers (Giulia Valentini and Marcos Garcia Gutierrez), accompanied by two violas da gamba and a recorder, with the overall artistic direction undertaken from the keyboard by Fabio Antonio Falcone.

Tracklist:

Fantasia Del Primo Tono
Qui La Dira
Chi La Dirra, Disminuita
Recercata Del Ottavo Tono
Bascia Flammignia
Gagliarda Napolitana
Recercata Del Primo Tono
Lo Ballo Dell'intorcia
Gagliarda Lombarda
Ballo Lombardo
Recercata Del Sesto Tono A Quattro Voce Con Lo Basso In Canone A L'ottava Del Contralto
Tenore Grande Alla Napolitana
Recercata Del Terzo Tono
Salve Regina
Tenore Del Passo E Mezzo
La Romanesca
Pis Ne Me Peut Venir
Pisne Disminuita
Recercata Del Septimo Tono
Tenore De Zefiro Con Dodeci Mutanze
Recercata Del Primo Tono A Cinque Con La Quinta Parte In Canone Al Unisono Del Tenore
Sortemeplus Con Alcuni Fioretti
Sortemeplus Disminuita
Sortez Mes Pleurs

UPC: 5028421953267
Label: Brilliant Classics
Release Date: 5.25.18
Format: CD

Ensemble L'Amorosa Caccia - Intavolatura de Cimbalo (CD)