Recordings for lute and related instruments

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Jfyi, a video of Nishiyama's D Scarlatti.

[Mandryka]

Just pointed out to me on another forum, I think this performance of a 16th century transcription of Josquin's Missa Dux Ferreriae by Diego Pisador is very good -- well filmed too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWLrGXDmNgs&t=152s&ab_channel=GeorgLawall

[Mandryka]

Excellent Attaingnant here from Michael Schäffer, whose Seon CD of suites by the likes of Conradi and Reusner is one of my favourite lute CDs.

[Mandryka]

It's strange to reread this post of a few months ago, having now spent more time with de Rippe's music.

This latest assault started off while listeninh to this most attractive compilation by Charles-Edouard Fantin, which contains pieces by the usual suspects including Milano, Morley, d'Aquilla etc



and then, as it was generally burbling along in a renaissance way, most pleasant, it's like some magical thing played, like the music had suddenly reached a new level of imaginative polyphonic inspiration. It was a piece by Albert de Rippe.

So I went back to Söderberg and Hopkinson Smith. The former seemed too dry and the latter's instruments are challenging. And casting around for other examples of de Rippe on record I stumbled across this fabulous one, by Gabriele Palomba,  full of the flights of fancy that I felt was lacking in Södeberg. Maybe here we have some performances of a large body of his work which really do him justice.

Back to the Söderberg Rippe this morning and whatever reservations I felt in 2019 have vanished! Sounds lovely to me - I may have to go back to the Palomba and Smith too, but at the moment I'm not in the mood for  comparative listening .


Söderberg seems to specialise on recent lute music, lots of recordings, I'll check them out later.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Another likable recording from Margret Köll. The recording sound is not good, however.

[Bachtoven]

Francesco Canova da Milano (1497-1543) wrote numerous wonderful works for the lute. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesco_Canova_da_Milano

[Mandryka]

I was at a concert yesterday where I heard a vihuela for the first time live. It is a beautiful instrument, much more so than a baroque guitar. The concert featured a guitar too, and I think it just made clear what you lose in timbre  (even though you gain a bit in volume.) To some extent that may be reflected in Spanish baroque guitar music.

I want to explore it on record - especially if well recorded. So please, if you know any impressive vihuela recordings, let me know.  Of course, José Miguel Moreno has recorded on one, I saw him play it. At the moment I'm listening to Paolo Cherici on the CD below, and the sound seems pretty well caught actually.



Without wishing to be racist, I can't help feel that this Italian approach to the music loses some Spanish soul!

This instrument is too intimate for a large venue. It is for domestic, private music making IMO.

[Mandryka]

Vihuela website with discography

https://vihuelagriffiths.com/vihuela/recordings/?page=1

[Que]

I can't help feel that this Italian approach to the music loses some Spanish soul!

This instrument is too intimate for a large venue. It is for domestic, private music making IMO.

I agree Moreno is a bit nicer and more idiomatic in Milán.

Vihuela website with discography

https://vihuelagriffiths.com/vihuela/recordings/?page=1

What a great find! 

[Mandryka]

This is glorious musicianship. I've always been an unconditional fan of Rooley's playing and this one is as amazing as the rest. I got it out because he uses a vihuela for some of the tracks. And there's the rub, either it is just not as beautiful as the best modern vihuelas -- maybe understanding of how to make renaissance instruments has come on. Or it is not very well recorded by contemporary standards, despite the sticker saying "Direct Metal Mastering" which I vaguely remember in fact. Or both.

But don't let that get in the way, I'm only hung up about vihuela sound because I've only just learned how lovely it can be. This is a magnificent thing and should be heard by everyone with a soul forthwith.

And it's got a funny cover to boot!

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

I don't know much about vihuela. I think Toyohiko Sato issued a vihuela album, and I will check it out.
I don't know the album by Imamura, but I like his lute recordings. Mito studied in Madrid and later studied with José Miguel Moreno, Hopkinson Smith, etc.

[Mandryka]

Thanks @Dry Brett Kavanaugh I'm listening to Shigeo Mito's recordings of Vihuela now. I know the Satoh and it is extremely excellent.  Satoh is just in a different league from the others (except Rooley . . . .) I have to see him in concert before it's too late.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Toru Sakurada- a student of Satoh- partly plays vihuela in his "Narváez Vs Neusidler."

[Mandryka]

.   

Released in January and then promptly forgotten about by me, revisiting this film soundtrack this after, it's a corker.  Some of this judgement is something personal: Delia Agúndez has a voice which reminds me of Birgit Nilsson, which suits me very nicely. You either like the timbre or you don't, no point in arguing. Me, when I listen to her, I feel like I'm being showered with diamonds.


But there's another thing: lute playing by someone called Robert Cases. Very distinctive and thoughtful. And Carles Magraner on viol is pretty special. The whole team is wonderful in fact, and they play as a team too. Altogether a hit, this.

Robert Cases here

https://www.youtube.com/@robertcases3629

And I want to signal this CD to @premont and other Charles Magraner sceptics.

[Mandryka]

https://www.dolcesfogato.com/Music/Baroque_lute/La%20Rh%C3%A9torique%20des%20Dieux.pdf

Rhetorique des Dieux.

[Mandryka]

I agree Moreno is a bit nicer and more idiomatic in Milán.

What a great find! 

Xavier Diaz-Latorre in Narváez sounds very good to me - he's becoming a favourite lutenist.

[Que]

Xavier Diaz-Latorre in Narváez sounds very good to me - he's becoming a favourite lutenist.

I quite agree!

[Mandryka]

I quite agree!

His Visée on theorbo is to die for. I don't like the guitar as much, but that's just me -- I'm sure other people feel the opposite. And it's interesting to hear how different the guitar music is from the theorbo music.

[Mandryka]

I have a hard time with choral music or music focused around voices. On the other hand, I love the Rumsey recordings. I wonder if there's anything else like Rumsey. I have, of course, seen available recordings of voice w/vihuela and lute. I'm not sure what I'd like. I prefer simplicity. Any hint of opera training turns me off and I need the sound of a pluck continuo.

I agree with you totally about Rumsey - five years after you said it but let's not let a little thing like that get in the way.  I think she's probably unique. Fantastic, and unique
 

[Pohjolas Daughter]

His Visée on theorbo is to die for. I don't like the guitar as much, but that's just me -- I'm sure other people feel the opposite. And it's interesting to hear how different the guitar music is from the theorbo music.

Is this one of the recordings from that CD?  If so, I quite liked what I heard.  Beautiful looking instrument too; I wonder how old it is?

PD