New Classical Tracks: Teatro Lirico

Now that summer is officially here, it's time to kick back and relax a little. This new release with Stephen Stubbs and his chamber ensemble Teatro Lirico matches the summer spirit perfectly because the music is simple, spacious and stimulating.

Their latest recording is a program of sonatas and dances from 17th-century Italy and Slovakia. There's plenty to explore here, with featured composers such as Giulio Caccini who, at the turn of the 17th century, published a collection of new music called "Nuove Musicae."

Also represented on the disc is Italian violin virtuoso Carlo Farina, who was responsible for several advances in violin technique. They include some of the first guidance on pizzicato (lightly plucking the strings with the fingers) and col legno (striking the strings with the wood of the bow rather than with the hair).

In the early 17th century, Farina was writing and publishing a lot of advanced music for the violin, including his sonata "La Desperata," included on this recording. This piece is reminiscent of Rimsky-Korsakov's "Sheherazade," where the solo violinist tells a tale without words. The performance is packed with emotion and, melancholic or euphoric, there is not a dull moment of listening.

Another piece that caught my ear is a sonata by guitar virtuoso Giovanni Battista Granata. He was one of the most prolific composers of the 17th century, publishing seven substantial volumes of music, almost all of it written for his instrument. But this sonata features a friendly musical duel between two other instruments: the violin and the chitarrone (a 17th-century lute).

As I listened to the introduction of this sonata, I paused as I started to hear what sounded like the familiar strains of Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven." Maybe Jimmy Page and Robert Plant found inspiration in this piece? In any case, this performance teams violinist Milos Valent with Stephen Stubbs. Valent is from central Slovakia and was raised both as a classical and a folk musician. This two-sided background has a strong influence on his music-making, and it works especially well here as it switches back and forth between elements of both classical and folk music. The dialogue in Granata's piece is adventurous and spontaneous.

This recording also includes hypnotic improvisations on the Folia, a dance pattern that was extremely popular at the end of the 16th century. In addition, there's a 15-minute suite based on "Pestry zbornik," an anonymous Slovak manuscript dated around 1676. Early music listeners will fall in love with this work, which is accented with heavy Moorish and Central European flavors.

Teatro Lirico was established in 1996 as a Baroque orchestra with Music Director Stephen Stubbs and concertmaster Milos Valent. It has since grown into a flexible chamber ensemble that delves into different combinations of plucked and bowed strings. The instruments have exotic names like lirone. The other virtuoso musicians featured on this recording are harpist Maxine Eilander and violist da gamba Erin Headley. By exploring ancient music and improvising to create new music, they have created a rich sonic atmosphere that's perfect for the long, lazy days of summer.

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