IMPROVISANDO

1 Uno (Toccata di tutti musici)
2 Due (sopra Las Vacas)
3 Tre (Passemezzo... nei boschi del Re)
4 Quattro (Anchor che col partire)
5 Cinque (... che col partire)
6 Sei (sopra Canaryo)
7 Sette (Toccata del Signor Pandolpho)
8 Otto (sopra La Spagna)
9 Nove (Toccata del Signor Gharrydo)
10 Dieci (sopra Passemezzo moderno)
11 Undici (Doulce Mémoire)
12 Dodici (Dialogo sopra un Pass’emezzo)
13 Tredici (Dolce Memoria)
14 Quattordici (Foliandalus)
15 Quindici (Toccata del Signor Morhiny)

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About this CD

Paolo Pandolfo is one of those rare artists who does not give into the temptation of establishing a regular and frequent rhythm of making new recordings – except, in his case, when he feels that he has something really relevant and new to say. If, in some way, this sets him apart and places him on the fringes of the record market, it does guarantee on the other hand a sense of timelessness and durability for his artistic work. His dazzling virtuosity and a musicality that knows no bounds transforms him into a true reference marker in an early music world that grows more predictable by theday.

And now, after nearly two years of silence, Pandolfo gathers round him a group of friends in order to create something which has practically been lost among the performers of “classical” music, victims of a wasting process that has become almost ingrained: improvisation. Turning back to a tradition which in the 16th and 17th centuries counted upon practitioners as famous as Diego Ortiz, Christopher Simpson and Girolamo Della Casa and that continued with significant names such as Frescobaldi, Corelli, Mozart and Brahms, these musicians unleash their imagination to regale us with eighty minutes of touching beauty and an unusual freedom. What we have here is a journey across musical structures which are mainly late- Renaissance ones, from dance ostinato basses (Pass’e mezzi, Folías, Canarios, Vacas) to the Fantasies for a solo instrument, from improvisations on a cantus firmus (La Spagna) to the alla bastarda style, based on polyphonic compositions (Anchor che col partire, Doulce Memoire)… Truly delightful.

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