Search - Diego Ortiz, Sylvestro di Ganassi dal Fontego, Modo Antiquo :: Ganassi, Ortiz: Complete Works for Viola da Gamba

For Serious Performers Only

Giordano Bruno | Wherever I am, I am. | 06/20/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I don't intend to recommend this CD for casual listeners or even for non-performing aficionados of Renaissance music. The 34 ricercares recorded here were never intended for public performance, certainly not in a batch. They are wonderful music, spectacular miniatures that today are often inserted in concert programs for display and variety, but listening to ALL of them one after another is absurd.



These ricercares come from two publications, one Italian and one Spanish, intended for the instruction of instrumentalists in the tasteful practice of improvisation and ornamentation of pre-existing melodies, a practice called 'diminution' or 'division.' In other words, they are textbooks for performers and as such have served every professional wind and string player of our times as guides to historical performance practice. They are indispensible. Ganassi's 'Fontegara' is the first book studied by serious recorder or cornetto players, and Ortiz'a 'Tratado de Glosas' is the bible of all gambists, professional or amateur.



This CD includes all the pedagogical examples of diminution specifically for the viola da gamba from the publications of Ortiz and Ganassi. The gambist here is Bettina Hoffman, of the ensemble Modo Antiguo. Gambists, if you want to play your difficult pet instrument with aplomb, you DO want this CD. Hoffman plays with a light, silvery tone that seems to me an accessible model of what a skilled amateur should aspire to. Make that big wooden lunk of yours sound like hers, and you'll be on track.



Most ricercatas are built upon a well-known melody, much as a jazz improviser spins her/his passages from the chords of a Cole Porter hit song. Some are constructed on ostinato bass notes or on a bassa danza series of long notes such as the famous "tenor" La Spagna. I have to criticise Modo Antiquo's performance of these supporting bass parts; often they are too prominent and overwhelm the gamba diminutions ungracefully. This is an inexcusable flaw of performance, for which I've subtracted two stars from my rating. Otherwise, Bettina Hoffman's playing is glorious. The ensemble performances of the chansons O Felici Occhi Miei and Doulce Memoire, on which some of the ricercatas are based, are excellent also, but they are a minor part of the whole CD."