Monteverdi String Band: 'A thousand flexible ways'

'A Thousand Flexible Ways' – Dialogues from the age of meraviglia for voice, violin and lute

Monteverdi String Band: Hannah Ely soprano, Oliver Webber violin, Toby Carr lute.

Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643): Zefiro torna; Ohimè ch'io cado
Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger (1580-1651): Prelude & Toccata Nona
Giulio Caccini: Queste lagrime amare
Gärtner (fl. c.1620): Toccata
Johann Nauwach (1595-1630): Amarilli mia bella passeggiata
Cipriano de Rore (1516-1565): Ancor che col partire
Luzzasco Luzzaschi (1545-1607): Deh vieni ormai
Biagio Marini (1594-1663): Sonata variata; Sinfonia La Orlandina
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c.1525-1594): Vestiva i colli
Felice Anerio (c.1560-1614): Galliard on Vestiva i colli
Giovanni Felice Sances (c.1600-1679): O Domine Jesu
Thomas de Crequillon (c.1505-c.1557): Par trop souffrir
Giovanni Paladini (fl. 1540-60): Ancor che col partire
Tarquinio Merula (1595-1665): Canzonetta spirituale
Oliver Webber (b. 1969): Ciaccona on Zefiro Torna
Carlo G (fl. c. 1620-30): Mater Ierusalem

The early decades of the Italian seicento were astonishingly fruitful for the arts, and for music in particular: the emergence and refinement of Monteverdi's seconda pratica opened up a new realm of expressive possibilities, which composers were quick to take advantage of. The elegance and proportion of the previous century began to be coloured by a new zest for meraviglia ('wonder, astonishment'), from which instrumentalists and singers alike benefited. One of the writers who attempted to capture these concepts was Emanuele Tesauro, whose Vocabolario (really more of a philosophical encyclopedia than a mere dictionary) includes an evocative description of a sweetly ornamenting voice, twisting and turning in 'a thousand flexible ways'.

The trio of performers from Monteverdi String Band explore this territory with voice, violin, and lute. Inspired by the perennial advice for instrumentalists to model their playing on the execution of good singers, the violin takes the role of a second voice in several works, including Monteverdi's iconic ciaccona Zefiro torna. The emerging instrumental styles are showcased in works by Marini and Kapsberger, and the solo voice runs the gamut of expressive styles, with Merula's heart-rending lullaby to the infant Christ, painfully cognizant of his destiny, as one of the highlights.