MSB in focus promotes and develops smaller projects featuring individual musicians
A Thousand Flexible Ways
Dialogues from the age of meraviglia for voice, violin and lute
The early decades of the Italian seicento were astonishingly fruitful for the arts, and for music in particular: the emergence and refinement of Monteverdi’s ‘seconda pratica’ opened up a new realm of expressive possibilities, which composers were quick to take advantage of. The elegance and proportion of the previous century began to be coloured by a new zest for meraviglia (‘wonder, astonishment’), from which instrumentalists and singers alike benefited.
We explore this territory with voice, violin, and lute. Inspired by the perennial advice for instrumentalists to model their playing on the execution of good singers, the violin takes the role of a second voice in several works, including Monteverdi’s iconic ciaccona ‘Zefiro torna’. The emerging instrumental styles are showcased in works by Marini and Kapsberger, and the solo voice runs the gamut of expressive styles, with Merula’s heart-rending lullaby to the infant Christ, painfully cognizant of his destiny, as one of the highlights.
Dialogues from the age of meraviglia for voice, violin and lute
- 3 performers: Hannah Ely, Oliver Webber and Toby Carr
- Composers including Monteverdi, Caccini, Merula, Sances, and the mysterious Carlo G
The early decades of the Italian seicento were astonishingly fruitful for the arts, and for music in particular: the emergence and refinement of Monteverdi’s ‘seconda pratica’ opened up a new realm of expressive possibilities, which composers were quick to take advantage of. The elegance and proportion of the previous century began to be coloured by a new zest for meraviglia (‘wonder, astonishment’), from which instrumentalists and singers alike benefited.
We explore this territory with voice, violin, and lute. Inspired by the perennial advice for instrumentalists to model their playing on the execution of good singers, the violin takes the role of a second voice in several works, including Monteverdi’s iconic ciaccona ‘Zefiro torna’. The emerging instrumental styles are showcased in works by Marini and Kapsberger, and the solo voice runs the gamut of expressive styles, with Merula’s heart-rending lullaby to the infant Christ, painfully cognizant of his destiny, as one of the highlights.
Con Arte e Maestria
Virtuoso violin ornamentation from the dawn of the Italian Baroque
Musical director Oliver Webber is joined by renowned harpsichordist Steven Devine in a spectacular programme of brilliant ornamentation, including not only surviving examples from the decades around 1600, but also a selection of Oliver's own versions, inspired by the individual styles of Monteverdi's contemporaries. We are grateful to the Historical Performance department at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama for their financial support, which made this project possible.
MSB in focus released this unique programme on Resonus Classics in 2021; you can read some of the reviews below.
To order your copy for £12 (inc. UK P&P), please contact us by email here.
For shipping rates outside the UK, please enquire.
Here is a taster: an excerpt from a Ciaccona from the disc, performed by Oliver Webber and Steven Devine.
Press reaction to Con Arte e Maestria
Early Music Review:
Webber and Devine apply their consummate technical skills and flawless musical instincts to bring this vital performance technique vividly back to life
Music Web International:
Not only studying the treatises and the diminutions included in them, but in particular a player's own creations in this field help to internalize the features of this practice. And that shows here, as in my ears these diminutions are completely natural and entirely in the style of the period. These pieces are the main asset of this recording, even though the compositions of the time are also played very well.
Gramophone:
Webber’s sound is fascinating to ponder. He has luminosity in abundance, and takes off into tender, singing, soulful rhapsody as easily as a bird to flight.
GScene Magazine:
This is a stunning, well-constructed programme that will reward repeated listening.
Classical Explorer:
Hearing the contrastive sound of a plaintive solo violin for Gärtner's Toccata against Steven Devine's performance of Giovanni Gabrieli's Toccata del secondo tonum is simply beautiful
Webber and Devine apply their consummate technical skills and flawless musical instincts to bring this vital performance technique vividly back to life
Music Web International:
Not only studying the treatises and the diminutions included in them, but in particular a player's own creations in this field help to internalize the features of this practice. And that shows here, as in my ears these diminutions are completely natural and entirely in the style of the period. These pieces are the main asset of this recording, even though the compositions of the time are also played very well.
Gramophone:
Webber’s sound is fascinating to ponder. He has luminosity in abundance, and takes off into tender, singing, soulful rhapsody as easily as a bird to flight.
GScene Magazine:
This is a stunning, well-constructed programme that will reward repeated listening.
Classical Explorer:
Hearing the contrastive sound of a plaintive solo violin for Gärtner's Toccata against Steven Devine's performance of Giovanni Gabrieli's Toccata del secondo tonum is simply beautiful