Jacopo da Bologna - Madrigali e Cacce

EAC | APE + CUE | Covers | 355 Mb

Date CD: May 21, 2009 | Arcana | 59:14

Depositfiles - - Turbobit - - Filefactory

Jacopo da Bologna is one of the earliest polyphonic composers about whom we sort of know something. We have his portrait in the form of a miniature, which reveals he was not a man of the cloth like the average fourteenth century musician, but a layman, and that suits the music Jacopo left us, almost none of which is sacred. We know of some of his professional engagements and it is postulated that he was teacher to Francesco Landini, the leading light of the Italian trecento. We can read a treatise Jacopo wrote on music and note that he was the only composer to set a Petrarch sonnet to music whilst Petrarch himself still lived. In spite of all this, it is difficult to appreciate what is important about Jacopo's music just by virtue of listening to it; it sounds primitive, and as it is most often anthologized it invariably suffers in the company of the music of his contemporaries, particularly Landini.

However, it is not time to write off Jacopo just yet, as La Reverdie appears to have found the key to assessing his great strengths as a figure in the trecento. Jacopo left about 40 works -- including keyboard intabulations that were like arrangements likely made by others -- and just about half of them are heard on Arcana's Jacopo da Bologna: Madrigali e Cacce. This project takes a varied approach to realizing Jacopo's limited contrapuntal resources -- which never exceed three voices -- through judicious use of instruments and sometimes adding fifths to the tenor or drones in places where Jacopo's original is a little naked. The fuller harmonic profile exposes several features not fully understood before in Jacopo's music; for example, the "under third" or "Landini cadence" makes an appearance in the madrigal In verde prato and many other aspects of the connectedness between Jacopo and Landini are made clear. Likewise, La Reverdie's dogged detective work manages to extract links to other musicians within his circle -- such as Magister Piero and Giovanni de Cascia -- by decoding the acrostics within his texts, which likewise lead outward to notable persons in the courts where he worked.

All of this informs La Reverdie's music-making, which is consummately professional, scrupulously rehearsed, and yet spirited and spontaneous. Arcana's recording is spacious, yet present, and the programming leads very sensibly from one performance to the next. Arcana's Jacopo da Bologna: Madrigali e Cacce is a superb exposition on a composer who has heretofore remained a mystery to most; Landini himself might have been envious of the quality of this recital.

tracklist:


1. In su' be' fiori, in sulla verde fronde, madrigal for 2 voices
2. Posando sopr'un acqua, in sonnio vidi, madrigal for 2 voices
3. Lo lume vostro dolce 'l mio singnore, madrigal for 2 voices
4. Un bel sparver çentil de penna biancha, madrigal for 2 voices
5. In verde prato a padilglon tenduti, madrigal for 2 voices
6. Quando vegio rinnovellar i fiori, madrigal for 2 voices
7. Vestissi la cornachia d'altrui penne, madrigal for 2 voices
8. O dolce apresso un bel perlaro fiume, madrigal for 2 voices
9. Io mi son un che per le frasch'andando, madrigal for 2 voices
10. Io mi son un che per le frasch'andando, madrigal for 2 voices
11. Per sparverare tolsi el mio sparvero, caccia in 2/3 voices
12. Ogelletto silvagio per stagione, canonic caccia madrigal for 3 voices
13. Sï chome al canto della bella Yguana, madrigal for 2/3 voices
14. Straccias'i panni 'n dosso, madrigal for 2 voices
15. Aquil' altera/Creatura gentil/Ucel de Dio, madrigal for 3 voices
16. Tanto soavemente, madrigal for 2 voices
17. Sotto l'imperio del possente prinçe, madrigal for 3 voices
18. Fenice fu' e vissi pura e morbida, madrigal for 2 voices
19. I' senti' zà como l'arco d'Amore, madrigal for 2/3 voices 

La Reverdie

I'm resurrecting here some of the works that "disappeared" from Avax or were "abandoned" from the original uploaders. There's not a real project behind it, I'm just cleaning up my HDs and following the tide. What I downloaded long ago is flowing back. All credits go to the first uploader. Enjoy...