The recorder is an instrument directly associated with the music of earlier eras. Its universal character meant that it was readily used both by itinerant musicians and by court artists. Thanks to its natural, warm timbre, close to the human voice so highly prized, especially in the sixteenth century, it proved ideally suited to solo performance and, above all, to ensemble playing. After all, recorders come in various sizes and cover a wide range of registers, while the coherence of their sound perfectly brings out the depth of expression enchanted in Renaissance motets, madrigals, and songs. The program will open with Alla Battaglia, an extraordinarily evocative song from 1487 by the Flemish master of polyphony Heinrich Isaac, celebrating the victorious siege of the fortress of Sarzanello and its recovery by Florence. It will be followed by Thomas Tomkins’s Sad Pavan for These Distracted Times, written in 1649, only two weeks after the execution of Charles I, King of England and Scotland. Like a refrain, the program will return to works by Anthony Holborne, a composer associated with the court of Queen Elizabeth I, from his 1599 collection Pavans, Galliards, Almains and other short Aeirs, both grave and light, in five parts, for Viols, Violins, or other Musicall Winde Instruments. The works of this highly esteemed and erudite musician have intriguing, often ambiguous titles, leaving ample room for interpretation by performers and listeners alike. No less ambiguous and moving are the pieces concerned with religious themes (by Orlando di Lasso and Vicente Lusitano) and with love (by John Wilbye and Ludwig Senfl).
Marta Dziewanowska-Pachowska
PROGRAM
Heinrich Isaac (1450–1517) – Alla Battaglia
Thomas Tomkins (1572-1656) – Sad Pavan for These Distracted Times
Anthony Holborne (1545-1602) – Infernum – Galliarda
Orlando di Lasso (1532-1594) – Peccata Mea Domine
John Wilbye (1574-1638) – Weep, Weep Mine Eyes
Anthony Holborne (1545-1602) – The Image of Melancholy
Ludwig Senfl (1486-1543) – Tandernaken
Vicente Lusitano (1520-1561) – Sancta Mater, istud agas
Anthony Holborne (1545-1602) – Paradizo – The Honey-Suckle
PERFORMERS
CRACOW RECORDER CONSORT:
KATARZYNA CZUBEK
JULIE KUČEROVÁ
ZSÓFIA SÁNTA
RODRIGO BARATA
RADOSŁAW ORAWSKI
Duration: approx. 50 mins
The seats in the auditorium are not numbered.
