LISLEVAND ROLF – LIBRO PRIMO CD

Opis

“Il libro primo,” or a musician’s first printed volume, often holds some of the most radical and inspired works of an artist. On his newest ECM New Series recording, Norwegian lute virtuoso Rolf Lislevand dedicates himself to the revolutionary literature of the Italian Baroque for archlute and chitarrone, drawing from the first published collections of Johann Hieronymus Kapsberger, Giovanni Paolo Foscarini, and Bernardo Gianoncelli, alongside two Recercadas by Spaniard Diego Ortiz.

In contrast to Renaissance polyphony, these nuove musiche developed a bold idiom of dissonance, harmonic daring, and rhythmic intricacy. Lislevand embraces this spirit of experimentation, taking historically informed liberties with improvisation and ornamentation, even contributing his own “Passacaglia al modo mio” as a personal study of the form. He further deepens the timbral spectrum by adopting an alternative archlute tuning, enhancing the adventurous character of the music.

The album follows his acclaimed 2016 release La Mascarade, shifting focus from the French Baroque to Italy, where contrasts of light and shadow shaped both the repertoire and the instruments themselves. The archlute glows with bright overtones, while the chitarrone resonates with darker, bass-heavy colors. This duality permeates Lislevand’s performances, which combine lyric precision with playful spontaneity. His approach highlights the improvisatory essence of the Toccata form, pioneered by Kapsberger, while also reshaping Foscarini’s Tasteggiata into a rondeau-like archlute setting. Ortiz’s 16th-century Recercadas, meanwhile, reveal surprising kinship with Kapsberger’s forward-looking rhythmic invention.

Recorded between 2022 and 2023 at Moosestudios in Norway and mixed in Munich in 2024, the album was produced by Lislevand and Manfred Eicher. With this program, Lislevand not only reconnects with four centuries of history, but also asserts the continuing vitality of this music in the present day.