Early baroque Italian music - Madness and Insanity
Music by Monteverdi, Ferrari, Strozzi, Francesca Caccini, D'India, Trabaci and Del Buono
World premiere of a newly discovered piece "La Pazzia" (anon.)
Il Profondo:
Johannes Keller, Harpsichord
Masako Art, Harp
Amélie Chemin, Viola da Gamba
Sophie Lamberbourg, Viola da Gamba
Jonathan Pešek, Viola da Gamba
Federico Abraham, Violone
Daniele Caminiti, Theorbo and archlute
Josías Rodríguez Gándara, Archlute and baroque guitar
Mirko Arnone, Baroque mandolin, archlute and Colascione
"La Pazza" (Italian for mad, insane) is the title of the new album of the Basso Continuo ensemble Il Profondo and Flavio Ferri-Benedetti (Countertenor). The name is the programme: the Italian seventeenth-century pieces, composed by Monteverdi, Ferrari, Strozzi, Francesca Caccini, D'India, Trabaci and Del Buono, circle around the theme of madness and insanity: amour fou, death-wish, religious ecstacy, utter ridiculousness and pathological insanity. The piece that stands at the heart of the album, “La Pazzia” (anonymous), is a world premiere, discovered and transcribed by the performers themselves.
Not only the musical text that is mad, but also the instrumentation is exotic. Il Profondo deploys nine Continuo players who play on twelve instruments, such as colascione, baroque mandolin and cimbalo cromatico (enharmonic harpsichord with split keys). Each piece has different instrumentation, rending each piece its own character: from the intimate moment, in which the singer only needs a lute, to the big polychoral effect with viola da gamba consort, lute consort and harpsichord.
Flavio Ferri-Benedetti and Il Profondo has collaborated in 2012 for the CD "Passo di pena in pena", released by a Spanish record company Cantus. It has received extremely good reviews, as well as five Diapasons.
The CD contains the following titles, among them the world-premiere-recording of "La Pazzia":
01. Anonym: "S'io son pazzo" from PN-Rés. Vm7. 59 02. Sigismondo D'India (ca. 1582–1629): "Tutto il dì piango" from Le musiche – libro terzo a una e due voci, Mailand 1618 03. Giovanni Maria Trabaci (1575–1647): "Consonanze Stravaganti" from Ricercate, Canzone Franzese, ... Libro primo, Neapel 1603 04. Anonym: "La Pazzia" from PEc ms 2890 inv. 206575 05. Anonym: "Romanesca" from I-Rvat Chigi Q.IV.28, Harfe solo 06. Barbara Strozzi (1619–1677): "L'Eraclito amoroso" from Cantate, ariette e duetti, Opus 2, Venedig 1651 07. Anonym: "Romanesca" from I-Rvat Chigi Q.IV.28, Cembalo solo 08. Francesca Caccini (1587–1641): "Lasciatemi qui solo" from Il primo libro delle musiche, 1618 09. Anonym: "Romanesca" from I-Rvat Chigi Q.IV.28, eingerichtet für Lauten-Consort 10. Barbara Strozzi (1619–1677): "È pazzo il mio core" from Arie a voce sola, Opus 8, 1664 11. Gioanpietro del Buono (1601–1656): "LXXVII, Obligo di dui Zoppi, e dui Ciechi" from Canoni, oblighi, et sonate..., Palermo 1641 12. Benedetto Ferrari (1603–1681): "Occhi miei" from Musiche Varie, Venedig 1633 13. Giovanni Maria Trabaci (1575–1647): "Durezze e Ligature" from Ricercate, Canzone Franzese, ... Libro primo, Neapel 1603 14. Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643): "Voglio di vita uscir" (Ciaccona) aus Scherzi musicali, 1632
