Hopkinson Smith - Bright & Early - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Boris Begelman, the highly acclaimed leader of Concerto Italiano, frequently takes on the role of soloist in the many concerts that Rinaldo Alessandrini's celebrated orchestra devotes to the music of Vivaldi and his contemporaries. High time then for Begelman to take centre stage in one of the Vivaldi Edition's solo violin recordings. This ninth concerto volume sees the welcome return of Rinaldo Alessandrini's ensemble, which already features in thirteen albums of the Vivaldi collection. In this purely instrumental repertoire they excel as much as they do in vocal music, deploying generously sweeping melodic lines, inspired dynamics, and a musical language already mastered to perfection yet always interpreted anew. Album Tracks 1. Violin Concerto in F Major, RV 283 I. Allegro 2. Violin Concerto in F Major, RV 283 II. Largo E Spiccato 3. Violin Concerto in F Major, RV 283 III. Allegro 4. Violin Concerto in B-Flat Major, RV 365 I. Allegro Poco 5. Violin Concerto in B-Flat Major, RV 365 II. Largo 6. Violin Concerto in B-Flat Major, RV 365 III. Allegro 7. Violin Concerto in C Major, RV 194 I. Allegro Ma Poco 8. Violin Concerto in C Major, RV 194 II. Largo 9. Violin Concerto in C Major, RV 194 III. Allegro 10. Violin Concerto in D Major, RV 211 I. Allegro Non Molto 11. Violin Concerto in D Major, RV 211 II. Larghetto 12. Violin Concerto in D Major, RV 211 III. Allegro 13. Violin Concerto in a Major, RV 346 I. Allegro Molto 14. Violin Concerto in a Major, RV 346 II. Largo 15. Violin Concerto in a Major, RV 346 III. Presto 16. Violin Concerto in E minor, RV 281 I. Allegro 17. Violin Concerto in E minor, RV 281 II. Largo 18. Violin Concerto in E minor, RV 281 III. Allegro

The French and Italian Renaissance song repertoire, immortalised during the first three decades of the sixteenth century by the printed editions of Pierre Attaingnant in Paris and Ottaviano Petrucci in Venice, invites audiences, and in former times performers, to immerse themselves in a world in which memories of medieval courtly poetry, the austerity (as reimagined in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries) of ancient lamentations, and a fully polyphonic narrative style, were all collided and superimposed-a certain sense of conversation can remind us also of the French air de cour as well as the early Italian madrigal form. These chansons and frottole give rise to discrete, almost enigmatic emotions, where music and text unite as one, transparent and restrained.Guided by the subtle sound of Hopkinson Smith's lute, the diaphanous voice of German soprano Sophie Klussmann roams over this little-known early Renaissance territory through four sections which take the form of return journeys between France and Italy. The sly melancholy of songs by Claude de Sermisy (Puisqu'en amours) and other French contemporary figures, some of them settings of poems by Clement Marot, thus collides with more plaintive pieces, by Marchetto Cara (Io non compro piu speranza) and Bartolomeo Tromboncino, whose supplicatory Per dolor me bagno il viso and final, heady Dolermi sempre voglio both attain peaks of intensity, at the same time being two sumptuous examples of the frottola form. During these sixty minutes, Sophie Klussmann produces exquisitely subtle and precious wisps of sound, recalling that the heart and soul of these snapshots very often remains the matter of love. Her dark gold timbre hints at the eternal in the one piece in the programme whose text is of a religious nature, the sublime, questioning prayer Se mai per maraveglia. Album Tracks 1. A Mes Ennuyz 2. Jouissance Vou

Album Tracks 1. Dolcissimo Sospiro 2. A Quei Sospir Ardenti 3. Mentre Che Fra Doglie E Pene 4. Vedrò 'l Mio Sol 5. Toccata Del Quarto Tono - Angélique Mauillon 6. Tu Dormi, E 'l Dolce Sonno 7. Tra Le Donne Onde S'onora 8. Amarilli Mia Bella 9. Tutto 'l DÌ Piango 10. Odi, Euterpe 11. Movetevi a Pietà 12. Torna, Deh Torna 13. Aria Di Sarabanda in Varie Partite - Angélique Mauillon 14. Un DÌ Soletto 15. Perfidissimo Volto 16. Non Ha 'l Ciel Cotanti Lumi 17. Tutto 'l DÌ Piango 18. Al Fonte, Al Prato 19. Canzona - Angélique Mauillon 20. Pien D'amoroso Affetto