Performer: La Pifarescha
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Glossa
Release: 2016
Size: 556 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
01. Hessen-Kassel: Pavana del povero soldato
Phalèse: Pavane et gaillarde de la bataille
02. Pavane
03. Gaillarde
04. Despres: Adieu mes amours a 4
05. Willaert: Canzone villanesche all napolitana, Book 1 (arr. for chamber ensemble)
06. anon.: Basse dance I [Neuf basses dances: Paris, 1530]
07. Susato: Danserye – No. 7. Entre du fol
08. Senfl: Im Maien (arr. for chamber ensemble)
09. Isaac: La morra
10. Estrées: Tiers livre de danseries: Les Bouffons
Phalèse: Liber primus leviorum carminum
11. Pavana Ferrareze
12. Gaillarda Ferrareze
13. Senfl: Patientiam muess ich han (arr. for chamber ensemble)
14. anon.: Die vollen Bruedern [Liederbuch des Johannes Heer von Glarus, 1510-1530]
15. anon.: Symphonia nobili sirene organa – In laudem summi Regis [Codex Nikolaus Apel, 1490-1504]
16. Jehan Tabourot: Belle qui tiens ma vie (arr. for chamber ensemble)
17. Hessen-Kassel: Pastorella
18. Ebreo da Pesaro: Amoroso
19. Despres: Mille Regretz
20. Danserye: No. 39. Pavan: Mille regretz
21. Hessen-Kassel: Pastorella
22. Paul Kugelmann: Nichts werders ist
23. anon.: O partita crudele [No. 97: I-Pec MS 431-G 20, 15th Century]
24. Despres: Scaramella va alla guerra
25. anon.: Allemande [Premier Livre de Danceries: Antwerp, 1571]
Given the prevalence of war in Europe during the Renaissance it is no real surprise that warlike themes and echoes of battles should find their ways into music, such as the many ‘L’Homme armé’ and ‘La Bataille’ masses of the time. With ‘Di guerra e di pace’, La Pifarescha captures the contrast between the roar and rhythms of battle and the celebrations of courtly and popular festivities as would have been performed by an alta cappella ensemble from the Middle Ages through to the dawn of the Baroque: shawms, slide trumpets and sackbuts, plus other wind instruments buttressed by percussion instruments. The music of well-known composers from the period – Josquin, Isaac, Willaert, Phalèse, Susato and Senfl – is conjured up in virtuosic performances from this Italian ensemble, making its first appearance on Glossa, although its members regularly contribute to instrumental performances by the likes of Cantica Symphonia or La Venexiana.
This modern journey, creating a Renaissance ‘soundtrack’, embraces not just war and peace but also the contrast of European and Arabic and Asiatic influences from the times of the Crusades through to civic bands playing for residents of Renaissance Venice or Bologna. In creating this enjoyable and improvisation-filled entertainment the members of La Pifarescha wear their scholarly knowledge lightly as they play their way from the popular to the erudite and back.