Texte paru dans: / Appeared in:


 
American Record Guide: (11/2017) 
Pour s'abonner / Subscription information

Naïve
E8940



Code-barres / Barcode : 0822186089408

Outil de traduction ~ (Très approximatif)
Translator tool (Very approximate)
 

Any new album by Hopkinson Smith (b1946) is self-recommending. It has been several years since this astounding musician last released an album (Bach’s cello suites J/A 2013). He is still in top form here. He plays one of his older lutes from the early 1970s, retrofitted with an eighth string.

He has a remarkable way of organizing the notes into hierarchies in pieces. It is always clear where the structural or ornamental notes belong. The music seems relaxed and casual, like improvisation, but it is also obvious that Smith has thought deeply about every detail. It all sounds so simple at this advanced level of mastery. It is a studied nonchalance. Baldassare Castiglione in 1508 created an Italian word for this: sprezzatura.

The program is Elizabethan miniatures. Almost everything is by Anthony Holborne, John Johnson, or John Dowland. Some of the pieces are based on popular tunes known from vocal settings or the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book. Some are untitled, and Smith invented suitable names for them (including the album’s title, “Mad Dog”). The title of one piece is a dedication to Smith’s graduate school professor in musicology, John Ward. I can’t stop playing this over and over at all times of day. It is inspiring and therapeutic.

Fermer la fenêtre/Close window
 

  Support us financially by purchasing this disc from eiher one of these suppliers.
  FR  -  U.S.  -  UK  -  CA  -  DE  -  JA -  
Un achat via l'un ou l'autre des fournisseurs proposés contribue à défrayer les coûts d'exploitation

Cliquez l'un ou l'autre bouton pour découvrir bien d'autres critiques de CD
 Click either button for many other reviews