early music season 2017-2018 -...
TRANSCRIPT
EARLY MUSICSEASON 2017-2018
To please the senses and elevate the mind through poetry, gesture and music. That, in a few words, is the aim of this ensemble.
Directed by the lutenist Manuel de Grange, the group is faithful to the 17th century’s aesthetic and rules of declamation, applicable not only to singing and recitation, but also to instrumental music, played on period instruments. Il Festino’s musicians and singers participate in all the ensemble’s concerts, ensuring a sense of complicity and a rapport unequalled in the French early music scene. The ensemble attempts to bring together poetry and songs of the same period, in such a way that they mirror one another, creating a unique experience for the audience. The listener is transported into the company of the men and women of a bygone age who, using refined techniques but sometimes also drawing on and transforming elements from popular music, expressed their passions, joys and sorrows, and their fondness for the pleasures that have always been with us.
Since it was founded in 2009, Il Festino has appeared at major festivals in France and elsewhere (Pontoise Baroque Festival, Haut-Jura Festival, Namur Music Festival, the Festival Musique et Mémoire, the Midis-Minimes Festival, the Festival de l’Eté Mosan etc.) and on renowned ‘national stages’ such as the Théâtre de Cornouaille in Quimper and Le Quartz in Brest.
The ensemble’s first CD, featuring airs in Italian from the time of Louis XIII, came out in May 2012, to an enthusiastic reception from the specialist media, in particular receiving five diapasons from the highly respected magazine Diapason. In April 2014 Il Festino recorded a second CD devoted to solo arias by Stefano Landi.
Il Festino is financially supported by the DRAC for Brittany, the Brittany Region, the FCM, the SPEDIDAM and the Adami for its recordings
Manuel de Grange direction
Dagmar Saskova, Barbara Kusa, Claire Lefilliâtre, François-Nicolas Geslot & Arnaud Richard voice Julien Cigana reciter
Francisco Javier Mañalich voice & viol Ronald Martin Alonso viol & lirone
Antoine Touche viol
Eric Bellocq, Thibaut Roussel lute, theorbo & guitar
Nanja Breedijk harp Philippe Grisvard, Felipe Guerra harpsichord
[…] This is why music is an imitation or representation, just as much as poetry, tragedy or painting, for it does with sounds or the singing voice what the poet does with verse, the actor with ges-tures and the painter with light, shade and colours.Marin Mersenne, Harmonie Universelle, 1636
Douce FélicitéCourt airs by Michel Lambert and Sébastien Le Camus5 musicians - soprano, tenor, 2 viols, harpsichord, lute & theorbo6 musicians - soprano, tenor, 3 viols, harpsichord, lute & theorbo7 musicians - 4 singers, 2 viols, harpsichord, lute & theorbo11 musicians - 5 singers, 2 violins, 3 viols, harpsichord, lute & theorbo
Dove ne vai, crudeleItalian arias at the court of Louis XIIIsoprano, tenor, viol, harp, lute
Stefano LandiArie da cantarsiArie a voce solasoprano, tenor, viol, harpsichord, theorbo
DonnaVirgin & MistressMadrigals and motets for 1 and 2 voices from Claudio Monteverdi2 sopranos, viol, lirone, (harpsichord), harp, theorbo
ProgrammeSSEASON 2017-2018
MeridianoItalian and Spanish court airs under Louis XIIIVoice, viol, lutes, guitars, theorbo
The Art of LoveA musical walk in the 17th century EuropeMusics by Guédron, Moulinié, Dowland, Purcell, Frescobaldi, Monteverdi…soprano, tenor, harp, viol, theorbo
CoplasThe Spanish canción from the Renaissance until nowJosé Canales, tenorManuel de Grange, lute & guitar
GENTIL CABALLEROVillancicos in Spanish & arie in Italian during the Gol-den CenturyWorks by Alonso Mudarra, Luys de Narváez, Luys Milán, Diego Pisador, Miguel de Fuellana…Dagmar Saskova, voiceManuel de Grange, lute
«Il Festino mise sur une noble pudeur […]. L’ensemble danse, rebondit, dialogue dans une belle complicité des violes de gambe et de la harpe. Manuel de Grange, passant du luth à la guitare à cinq chœurs, veille au juste goût des ornementations, à la noblesse des phrasés, pour que le... festin «exotique» garde une suavité contrôlée. Rien ne vient troubler les mots ni le timbre fruité de Dagmar Saskova. Aux côtés de Dagmar Saskova, le ténor (et violiste) Francisco Manalich affiche une délicatesse plus désinvolte.»Sophie Roughol, Diapason
Moulinié, Boesset, BatailleL’air italien au temps de Louis XIIIMusica Ficta, 2012 | MF8014
The collections of airs published in France by Bal-lard between 1608 and 1643 contain 17 airs on Italian words, of which six are in the polyphonic collections, six are for voice with lute tablature and five for voice with guitar tablature. Taking account of variants and different versions, poly-phonic or monodic, of the same pieces, we are left with ten texts – a rather insignificant group amid a repertoire of over 2,000 French airs.The present recording manages to include all these ten texts, thereby presenting almost all the Italian airs published by French composers during Louis XIII’s reign. The musicians of Il Fes-tino have interspersed these airs with a number of instrumental pieces and songs to Spanish texts of the same period. All the Italian airs are by three of the foremost French composers of the time, each of whom moved in court and salon circles.
Dagmar Saskova voiceFrancisco Javier Mañalich voice & violRonald Martin Alonso violHannelore Devaere harpManuel de Grange lute, theorbo, guitar
Stefano LandiArie da cantarsiMusica Ficta, 2014 | MF8021
This recording takes us inside the palaces of early 17th-centrury Rome and presents a fas-cinating array of compositions that served as background to the lives of the contemporary aristocracy. As well as pieces by Stefano Landi, there are vocal and instrumental works by Giro-lamo Frescobaldi and Johann Hieronymus Kaps-berger, two musicians who shared with Landi the patronage of the Barberini family.Stefano Landi was a musician who throughout his career was able to develop and significantly alter his compositional style, adapting to his environment. As with many other composers of his generation, his language was initially model-led on Renaissance polyphony before evolving towards solo vocal models intended to suit both chamber and operatic contexts, opera being a genre to whose creation he contributed.
Dagmar Saskova voiceFrancisco Javier Mañalich voice & violRonald Martin Alonso viol & lironePhilippe Grisvard harpsichordManuel de Grange lute, theorbo, guitar
[…] Francisco Javier Mañalich, son éloquence pleine de séduction (...) Le
timbre pénétrant de la soprano Dagmar Saskova donne consistance et émotion
à chacune de ses interventions (...) duos inédits et captivants, détaillant ces
précieuses miniatures avec un art raffiné, qui partout fait mouche.
Denis Morrier, Diapason, juin 2015
The performers here are outstanding. Soprano Dagmar Saskova has a power-ful, ringing, and beautiful voice; I hope
to hear a lot more from her. Less sensa-tional, but sweetly expressive, is tenor
Francisco Javier Mañalich, who also plays bass viol. Three other musicians
make their contributions on some five or six instruments.
The loving commitment of these perfor-mers to Landi’s music make this program
a great treasure. I really loved it, and I think anyone else is likely to also.
Good notes, full texts and translations. Totally splendid!
John W Barker, American Record Guide, Septembre 2015
Sous l’influence de Marie de Médi-cis, quelques compositeurs français tentèrent avec succès une synthèse des deux tendances dont l’ensemble Il Fes-tino – dédié à l’esthétique et aux règles déclamatoires du XVIIe siècle - offre un résultat éloquent. Avec le concours de la soprano Dagmar Saskova, voix pure et incarnée à la fois, idéale pour le répertoire. Martine Dumont-Mergeay, La Libre Belgique, 30 mai 2012
L’ensemble Il Festino aborde ce réper-toire en trouvant d’emblée un parfait équilibre entre naturel et art qui rend sa prestation souvent enthousiasmante. […] une variété de couleurs très sédui-santes […]. Animés d’un très louable souci de varier les climats, les instru-mentistes font preuve de beaucoup de réactivité et de précision, et se révèlent des accompagnateurs aussi inventifs qu’attentifs. La soprano Dagmar Saskova rayonne sur l’intégralité de cet enregis-trement par la qualité de son timbre lumi-neux et sensuel, par la fluidité et la clarté de son élocution, par l’attention qu’elle porte aux moindres inflexions des textes et l’investissement de tous les instants qu’elle met à les servir. […]Il faut saluer, pour finir, le courage d’Il Festino et de son éditeur d’avoir choisi, pour un premier disque, d’explorer des chemins musicaux peu fréquentés plutôt qu’avoir opté pour un programme certainement plus vendeur mais rebattu […]Jean-Christophe Pucek, La Passée des arts, 13 septembre 2012
