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Reviewer: Barry
Brenesal The title of this release is a pun, and not an especially bad one. Leo is the Latin for “lion,” and Leo X, first of the three de’ Medici popes, was known for his love of all the arts—but especially music. Ensemble discs that function as surveys of a given court’s music life are relatively common these days, even if a degree of educated guesswork is always involved, and some are built more with a thought to dramatic fiction than fact. La Morra, though, has chosen to employ the ample research that exists into life at the Leonine court, and come up with a representative program. It’s one that includes strict liturgical musical settings, motets, lute- and polyphonically- accompanied songs, secular ceremonial works of both serious and frivolous nature, keyboard music (Leo owned at least one harpsichord and three organs), solos arranged and composed for the lute, and court dances. (Curiously, Leo employed “soft” orchestral ensembles, but no loud ones of trombones and cornetts), Some specific works are of course surmised: Michele Pesenti’s Che farula, che dirala likely was performed at the Leonine court, given that Pesenti was employed by Leo. The same might be said of a ballo transcribed in a treatise by Guglielmo Ebreo, who also transcribed two choreographies by Leo’s father, Lorenzo il Magnifico. The great lutenist, Francesco Canova di Milano, served the Pope until the latter’s death in 1521. He’s represented by four works, three of them in succession to demonstrate a transcribed improvisation, a close intabulation of Richefort’s De mon triste, and then a fantasia built around elements of the Richefort piece. Heinrich Isaac, that most devoted musical servant of the de’ Medicis, is represented by a pair of motets. Three works attributed to Leo himself (most dubiously in one instance, where part of a Florentine manuscript bears the incompletely erased notation “Leo p[a]p[a] X”) are heard here as well. They can best be described as of primarily historical interest. La Morra continues to be led by Corina Marti, who plays both recorder and harpsichord, and Michal Gondko, who plays lute and viola da mano (an Italian vihuela-like instrument). They also continue to vary the size and composition of their ensemble, from release to release. The one heard here features five male vocalists, as well as six instrumentalists that include themselves, in a broken ensemble of plucked and bowed strings, keyboards, and softer winds. Technically, I have no issue with any of the instrumentalists, save that one of the performers on the recorder tends to be a bit unsteady at times in breath support. The quality of the vocalists is excellent—fortunately, given that 12 of the 23 cuts include extensive vocals, and at least some require four or five singers capable of performing a cappella. I would single Giovanni Cantarini in particular for his fine lyric tenor and excellent enunciation in Che farula, che dirala, but there are no issues with any of the vocalists. In short, we’re given a solid program illustrating a wide range of music at the Leonine court, in fine performances. The timings are acceptable, the sound balanced reasonably between all the performers, and texts are provided with translations. Even primary manuscript and printed source materials are listed. Recommended. | |
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