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Ensemble La Notte announce the release of their second recording, La Folia, a selection of baroque repertoire on the themes of chaos, madness and the bizarre.

Released to coincide with the anniversary of Telemann’s death, and at a time when the world is still grappling with the chaos of a global pandemic, La Folia is particularly appropriate for our curious times.

From the liner notes:

Nowadays, we often associate the characteristics of Baroque music with order, but before the 17th century, the word “baroque” was used to describe art, architecture and music that was irregular, extravagant and ornate. French philosopher Michel de Montaigne associated the term ‘baroco’ with that which was ‘bizarre, and uselessly complicated’ – and this is how baroque music must have sounded to those used to the Renaissance style.

Many of the descriptive titles in this programme suggest these ideas of madness and chaos, and were often used to show a deliberate contrast to music that was more orderly. This CD is a celebration of this baroque idea of the bizarre, the chaotic and the mad, explored over a vast range of styles, nationalities and musical forms.

Launch video:

Track list:

Jean-Féry Rebel (1666 – 1747) arr. M.Wilson – ‘Le Chaos’, from Les Élémens & ‘Les Caractères de la Danse’

George Frideric Handel (1685 – 1759) – Trio Sonata Op.2 no.5 in g minor, HWV 390a

Nicola Matteis (c.1670 – c.1720) – ‘Diverse bizzarie Sopra la Vecchia Sarabanda ò pur Ciaccona’

Nicholas L’Estrange (1603 – 1655) – Collected antimasque music: ‘The Furies’ and ‘The Apes Dance at the Temple’

Georg Philipp Telemann (1681 – 1767) – Trio Sonata in d minor, TWV 42:d10

Henry Purcell (1659 – 1695) – ‘Dance for the Green Men’ Act 3 from ‘The Fairy Queen’, Z 629

Jean Philippe Rameau (1683 – 1764) – ‘Les Sauvages’ from Les Indes Galantes

Antonio Vivaldi (1678 – 1741) – Trio Sonata in d minor Op 1 no. 12 ‘La Folia’, RV 63

 

Performers:

Kate Allsop – Recorders

Maxim Del Mar – Violin

Mark Wilson – Bassoon

Mary Walton – Cello

Jonatan Bougt – Theorbo

Callum Anderson – Harpsichord

Recorded at St Francis of Assisi Church, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, UK, 5 – 10 April 2021

For further press information, review copies and interviews, please contact Frances Wilson 

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The word “transcendental”, at least when applied to piano music, usually suggests rampant virtuosity and piano pyrotechnics, and the first pieces which come to mind are Lizst’s Études d’exécution transcendante. Liszt himself chose the word to allude to the extreme difficulty of the pieces, the implication being that the musician who masters these works will be able to “transcend” their technique, musicianship and the expressive capabilities of the instrument.

In Ivan Ilic’s hands, the word “transcendental” has a different meaning. His new disc, ‘The Transcendentalist’, draws inspiration from  Transcendentalism, America’s first indigenous intellectual community, which included literary luminaries Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Emerson’s manifesto Nature (1836) laid out the philosophy of the movement, which was founded as a reaction to and against rationalism and materialism. The music included on Ilic’s new disc is by  Scriabin, John Cage and Morton Feldman, together with a new work by Scott Wollschleger, ‘Music Without Metaphor’. The composers have connections to the tenets of the Transcendentalist movement: Scriabin’s mysticism, Cage’s interest in Zen Buddhism, Feldman’s intuitive approach to composing and Wollschleger’s synaesthesia, and the works on this disc display virtuosity in their originality and thoughtfulness, contemplation and introspection, rather than showy technical prowess

The works by Cage, Feldman and Wollschleger demonstrate the influence of Scriabin on American avant-garde composers, while Wollschleger’s deeply haunting  ‘Music Without Metaphor’ subtly reflects on and refracts the other music on the disc. Scriabin’s miniatures reveal hints of Chopin in the early Preludes while the later works are exotic and ambiguous, rich in pre-Shoenbergian atonality and unusual and arresting harmonies.

Ilic’s touch is assured, sensitive and as thoughtful as the music, his sound rounded, the pedal used tastefully to create halos of blurred sound, particularly affecting in Cage’s ‘In a Landscape’. The entire disc is contemplative, dreamy and genuinely spiritual. Play this at the end of a busy day, with the lights turned low, and surrender to the music and Ilic’s subtle delivery.

Recommended

‘The Transcendentalist’ is available on the Heresy label and as a download from iTunes and Amazon.

Ivan Ilic will feature in a forthcoming Meet the Artist interview