At the sources of Italian Baroque, “Nuove Musiche” brings together Furio Zanasi and Xavier Díaz-Latorre around Caccini and Kapsperger. Between vividly shaped monodies and toccatas for chitarrone, this programme in six “canti” explores the birth of the stile moderno. A Passacaille recording of striking expressive clarity. 
By 
With Nuove Musiche, released on Passacaille, the baritone Furio Zanasi and the musician Xavier Díaz-Latorre (chitarrone and guitar), performing under the name Laberintos Ingeniosos, place themselves at the heart of a decisive moment in Italian musical history. At the turn of the seventeenth century, Giulio Caccini asserted a new way of singing in which poetry guides the music and emotion takes precedence over the learned balance of counterpoint. This emerging aesthetic, soon described as stile moderno, restores to the text its clarity and expressive force.
Structured in six “canti” in homage to the Divine Comedy, the programme alternates madrigals and arias by Caccini with toccatas, passacaglias and dances drawn from Kapsperger’s books for chitarrone. The instrumental pieces, by turns luminous and bold, enter into dialogue with the intensity of the monodies and highlight the richness of a language in the process of invention.
Carried by Furio Zanasi’s supple and embodied diction, supported by the restrained continuo of chitarrone and five-course guitar, the ensemble brings forth a sung discourse of remarkable immediacy. A recording that casts precise light on the birth of the Baroque and the new art of making the word resonate.
You must be logged in to be able to post comments.
Sign in