Ensemble Syntagma - Stylems: Italian Music from the Trecento - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Ensemble Syntagma - Remembrance [COMPACT DISCS] date 05/13/2008

In 16th century Italy was by far the largest exporter of music. But some Italians preferred to stay at home big names like Alessandro Scarlatti and Albinoni, but also delightful incogniti such as Leonardo Leo, Nicolo Fiorenza, Giovanni Antonio Canuti or Francesco Mancini. They developed a hyper-personal style which was impervious to international fashion, and (especially in the South) characterized by extravagance and a distinct couleur locale. Their works are virtually unknown, but as local archives are shedding their treasures through digitization projects, more and more gems are finding their ways to recordings such as the present one. There is no better advocate for this sun-drenched repertoire than the Antwerp ensemble RedHerring.

Whilst flutes, oboes and bassoons were often employed in music performed in the open air, as we have already documented in Les Fastes de la Grande ecurie, they also made contributed greatly to the introduction of wind instruments into the other musical institutions of Louis XIV's court. This, however, was only possible thanks to the many changes and alterations made to these instruments so that they might better blend with the violins and viols. Here they appear in the Chambre du Roi