Performer: Piffaro
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Archiv
Catalogue: 4458832
Release: 1995
Size: 280 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
01. Dalza: Piva
02. Isaac: Palle, palle / Ne più bella di queste / La mi la sol
03. Bendusi: Pass’e mezo ditto il Romano / Moschetta / Bandera
04. Mainerio, Mantovano: La Parma / Un sonar de piva in fachinesco (Lirum bililirum)
05. Festa: Regem archangelorum / Alma, che scarca dal corporeo velo
06. Azzaiola: Aldì, dolce ben mio / Bona via faccia barca (Venetiana) / Gentil madonna, del mio cor padrona
07. Arcadelt, Ruffo, Vecchi: Donna, quando pietosa / El travagliato / La gamba in basso e soprano / Amor è foco e ghiaccio
08. Mainerio: Putta nera ballo furlano
09. Agostini, Ferretti, Gussago: All’arm’, all’arm’ / Com’al primo apparir / Sonata “La facca”
10. Bonelli, Gussago: Canzona “Istrina” / Sonata “La fontana” / Canzona “Licori”
11. anon.: La morte de la ragione – La traditora / Bel fiore / La rocha el fuso – El desperato – La lavandara
For a disc featuring bagpipes, shawns, recorders, flutes, crumhorns, and sackbutts plus lutes, citterns, guitars, and assorted untamed percussion instruments, it’s not as raucous as you might at first imagine. That’s not to say that the seven players of Philadelphia’s Piffaro early instrument ensemble don’t kick up a ruckus on this 1995 disc called Canzoni e Danze — Wind Music from Renaissance Italy. On tracks like the opening Piza and the later La Parma, Piffaro’s attack is mighty and its rhythms are strong. Yet on the string-driven Pass’e mezzo ditto il Romano and the flute- and recorder-dominated Aldì, dolce ben mio show a more dulcet and lovely side of the ensemble. And the closing suite begun with the drum-led march La morte de la ragione shows the group can build a dramatic sequence to a rousing climax as well as the best late Romantic. There’s never any question of the player’s abilities. Even on the most notoriously recalcitrant Renaissance instruments, Piffaro performs with virtuoso ease and brilliance both individually and as an ensemble. Anyone looking for a rambunctious good time in a Renaissance sort of way who doesn’t already know this disc from its first release will surely enjoy it in this 2007 reissue.