Recordings for lute and related instruments

[milk]

Does anyone know another great solo baroque guitar recording (besides Rolf Lislevand)? Is it only going to be Spanish music recorded on this instrument?

[Mandryka]

Balint Bakfark is a new composer for me, I'd say this music is pretty high quality contrapuntally and in terms of lyrical attractiveness. Accessible music, but not naive. The performances by Dániel Benkő seem totally expert - I know nothing about the lute he uses but it's distinctive and intense sounding. Like it!

That's the first time I've ever had to type an ő

[Que]

.

Luís Gasser plays fantasies by Lluís del Milà (Luys Milan)  These are the best performances of the untranscribed instrumental pieces I have ever heard. The poetry and gentleness and humility of what Gasser does is sensational - his approach leans towards the contemplative,  but in my opinion there's nothing contrived or baroque (in the pejorative sense) about his style.

A lot of the credit is due to the beauty of Gasser's vihuela, and the sound take. The ambience is never forceful or dramatic, always quiet and intimate. This is a contrast and a revelation compared to the feeling that Hopkinson Smith and the sound engineers for Astrée created with the same music. Evidently not all vihuelas are the same! I would also say that Gasser's approach is is less preoccupied about creating effects than Hopkinson Smith's, less stylised.

I just wonder if Lluís del Milà isn't a sort of peak, a summit of the Renaissance. There's something natural, peaceful, at ease with itself,  about his music. His art is touching, without the slightest hint of sentimentality. The music is directly  communicative without ever being naive.

Interesting recordings! 

I've been quite happy with Moreno playing Milán:

[asin]B0000C8WXW[/asin]
Q

[HIPster]

Does anyone know another great solo baroque guitar recording (besides Rolf Lislevand)? Is it only going to be Spanish music recorded on this instrument?

Hi milk. 

Very cool to see your postings regarding lutes and early guitars!

Try David Rogers:

http://davidrogersguitar.com/index.shtml

Fair disclosure:

He is my lute teacher. 

Recorded a number of fine releases as a member of the Terra Nova Consort.  This one is quite nice:

[asin]B00000J86B[/asin]

Cheers.

[milk]

Hi milk. 

Very cool to see your postings regarding lutes and early guitars!

Try David Rogers:

http://davidrogersguitar.com/index.shtml

Fair disclosure:

He is my lute teacher. 

Recorded a number of fine releases as a member of the Terra Nova Consort.  This one is quite nice:

[asin]B00000J86B[/asin]

Cheers.

Thanks! This is a new genre for me. I love this Spanish music (and early Italian too), in addition to French and German lute music.

[Mandryka]

Does anyone know another great solo baroque guitar recording (besides Rolf Lislevand)? Is it only going to be Spanish music recorded on this instrument?

There's some Italian and French music that people play on a guitar, the problem for me is finding recordings I like. Maybe check the collection of Italian music by Frank Pschichhholtz.

[milk]

There's some Italian and French music that people play on a guitar, the problem for me is finding recordings I like. Maybe check the collection of Italian music by Frank Pschichhholtz.

Thanks. Let me check it out!

[Mandryka]

Thanks. Let me check it out!

I got to know about Pschichholz (note the correct spelling now) because he released a wonderfully understated recording of Dowland songs last year I think, with Maria Skiba.  Better than the Italian stuff! I'm not a great fan of Foscarini, or indeed guitar.

[milk]

I got to know about Pschichholz (note the correct spelling now) because he released a wonderfully understated recording of Dowland songs last year I think, with Maria Skiba.  Better than the Italian stuff! I'm not a great fan of Foscarini, or indeed guitar.

Yeah, I had to do some futzing around to figure out the spellin 

[milk]

Does this belong in this thread? This is such a stirring, enjoyable, joy-filled offering. Great stuff. I think there's a baroque guitar here - which I think fits this thread better than the guitar thread.

[North Star]

Does this belong in this thread? This is such a stirring, enjoyable, joy-filled offering. Great stuff. I think there's a baroque guitar here - which I think fits this thread better than the guitar thread.

Sure, that superb disc is filled with guitar/lute family instruments: Rolf Lislevand (baroque guitar, fretless baroque guitar, chitarriglia); Björn Kjellemyr (colascione); Béatrice Pornon (baroque guitar); Eduardo Eguez (chitarra battente); Guido Morini (positive organ); Pedro Estevan; Michèle Claude; Katharina Dustman (percussions)

[Mandryka]

Does this belong in this thread? This is such a stirring, enjoyable, joy-filled offering. Great stuff. I think there's a baroque guitar here - which I think fits this thread better than the guitar thread.

As Ochs would say, spanische tuerei!

[Mandryka]

The effect Pernot obtains from his lute is absolutely deliberate, and probably he chooses the recording location that fits better to the sound he wants convey to the final listener.
Listen the Pernot CD devoted to Dufaut's music : yes, at the very start of the first piece you could be surprised, the sound is tough and 'muscular' and not really pleasing, but almost immediately you get in tune with it.  This muscular sound is just the ideal for clarify the sometimes intricated textures of the so-called Style Brisè .
( I'm not sure it's correct refer to the DeVisee's  writing as 'style brisè'   .... but surely Dufaut's style is )
Listen for a comparison the Dufaut cd by Sigrun Richter : it is a more recent recording realized in a very good acoustic  in a medieval church in Italy , the registered sound is not tough as that of Pernot , but it's rather similar ......and the outcome is simply electrifying !   
But in my shelf there is room for mellower sounding lutes, of course !!

I listened again to Sigrun Richter play Dufaut on Les Accords Nouveaux III and was struck by how dreamy it is, the recording ends with a piece by Jacques Gallot called Le Sommeil de M. Dufaut, and nothing could be more appropriate! I like what she does very much, it's unique. All the lutenists bring their own style to Dufaut, I guess it's a sign of a great composer that he's susceptible to different approaches interpretively, you have to clear your head of one before listening to another!

Richter recorded another Dufaut suite on Les Accords Nouveaux II - her lute sounds different, her approach is less oneiric I'd say, the recording quality is not as good, it's nevertheless very interesting to hear.

[Mandryka]

The closest we come to a  lute related instrument here is Andrew Lawrence King's psalteron, but I'm going to put it here because the transcriptions are from lute music by Lluis de Milá. This is an album which is worthy of a rave review - the gentle and humble poetic lyricism is disarming. I could hardly believe it's Jordi in the driving seat. He must have had a moment of grace.

The star of the show is Andrew Lawrence King, whether on harp or the aforementioned psalteron. The delicacy and nuance of his approach to de Mila's fantasies is exactly what so appealed me to me about Gasser's performance. Another artist who may have a similar approach is Shirley Rumsey.

[Mandryka]

Hopkinson Smith Narvaez. If this isn't one of the greatest lute recordings ever then I'm a Dutchman. The level of expression, ardour, emotional energy, the total involvement, the colour, mastery of the rhetoric of the music, is gobsmacking.

Nice vihuela, quite muscular and intense.

[milk]

Hopkinson Smith Narvaez. If this isn't one of the greatest lute recordings ever then I'm a Dutchman. The level of expression, ardour, emotional energy, the total involvement, the colour, mastery of the rhetoric of the music, is gobsmacking.

Nice vihuela, quite muscular and intense.

Thanks! Just got it. I think this is Vihuela and not Lute. Fantastic!

[milk]

This one, on baroque guitar, is also worthwhile.

[Mandryka]

This one, on baroque guitar, is also worthwhile.

Yes very worthwhile, and for Guerau I also enjoy this one



In truth I've not warmed to Guerau's music as much as De Mila, Narvaez and Mudarra - some time soon I'll try again. Hopkinson Smith's Mudarra is as good as his Narvaez.

[milk]

My head is kind of spinning with this Iberian music and I get confused sometimes between renaissance and baroque. I probably recently posted this, or someone else has, but this

(although some of it is Italian?) is such a fantastic collection...has anyone ever seen a performance from one of these masters? Lislevand or Smith or O'dette? I also quite like the iterations of Iberian music from Savall and think he's be a wonderful concert to attend.

[Que]

Hopkinson Smith Narvaez. If this isn't one of the greatest lute recordings ever then I'm a Dutchman. The level of expression, ardour, emotional energy, the total involvement, the colour, mastery of the rhetoric of the music, is gobsmacking.

Nice vihuela, quite muscular and intense.

You're Dutchman??     

Anyway, thanks for mentioning this! 

Q