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Lute Duo Music (Two Lutes with Grace - Plectrum Lute Duos of the Late 15th Century) (Lewon, Kieffer)
The plectrum lute duo was one of the most popular ensembles for professional instrumentalists in late 15th-century Western Europe. This recording presents for the first time the bulk of a surviving repertoire that can arguably be considered for the lute duo, performed on two equal plectrum lutes or with a combination of lute and gittern—a smaller member of the lute family. The album, inspired by the Ferrarese virtuoso Pietrobono dal Chitarino (c. 1417–1497), acclaimed in his lifetime as ‘the foremost lutenist in the world’, includes the earliest printed lute duos by Francesco Spinacino and Joan Ambrosio Dalza and the two-voice instrumental works by Johannes Tinctoris. The often highly ornamented instrumental duos are mostly reworkings of songs, some of which are given here in a performance with the singer Grace Newcombe to provide the context for the lute arrangements that follow.
Tracklist
Capella Istropolitana (Orchestra)
Edlinger, Richard (Conductor)
|  | 1 | Viola Concerto in G Major, TWV 51:G9: II. Allegro | 02:53 |
Capella Istropolitana (Orchestra)
Edlinger, Richard (Conductor)
Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra (Orchestra)
Kovacs, Janos (Conductor)
| | 2 | Viola Concerto, Sz. 120: II. Adagio religioso (completed by Tibor Serly, 1949) | 04:27 |
Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra (Orchestra)
Kovacs, Janos (Conductor)
| | 3 | Fantasia cromatica (after J.S. Bach's Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 903) | 07:25 |
Koenig, Robert (piano)
| | 4 | Viola Sonata in B-Flat Major, Op. 36: II. Barcarolla: Andante con moto | 06:31 |
Koenig, Robert (piano)
San Diego Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra)
Talmi, Yoav (Conductor)
| | 5 | Harold in Italy, Op. 16: III. Serenade d'un montagnard des Abruzzes a sa maitresse: Allegro assai | 06:50 |
San Diego Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra)
Talmi, Yoav (Conductor)
Inui, Madoka (piano)
| | 6 | Viola Sonata Op. 11, No. 4: I. Fantasie: Ruhig | 02:40 |
Inui, Madoka (piano)
Kliegel, Maria (cello)
| | 7 | Duo in E-Flat Major for Viola and Cello, WoO 32, "Mit 2 obligaten Augengläsern" (With 2 Obbligato Eyeglasses): II. Minuetto | 04:21 |
Kliegel, Maria (cello)
Hakkinen, Aapo (piano)
| | 8 | Märchenbilder, Op. 113: I. Nicht schnell (version for viola and piano) | 04:09 |
Hakkinen, Aapo (piano)
Hampton, Michael (piano)
| | 9 | Viola Sonata: I. Impetuoso | 07:07 |
Hampton, Michael (piano)
Baltimore Chamber Orchestra (Orchestra)
Thakar, Markand (Conductor)
| | 10 | Viola Concerto No. 1 in D Major: II. Andante moderato | 05:40 |
Baltimore Chamber Orchestra (Orchestra)
Thakar, Markand (Conductor)
Denk, Jeremy (piano)
| | 11 | Viola Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 120, No. 1: IV. Vivace | 05:02 |
Denk, Jeremy (piano)
Borisovsky, Vadim - Arranger
Hampton, Michael (piano)
| | 12 | Romeo and Juliet, Op. 64: Act I: Introduction (arr. V. Borisovsky for viola and piano) | 02:16 |
Hampton, Michael (piano)
Hewitt, Anthony (piano)
| | 13 | Concertstück, "Pièce de concert" | 08:54 |
Hewitt, Anthony (piano)
Capella Istropolitana (Orchestra)
Nishizaki, Takako (violin)
Gunzenhauser, Stephen (Conductor)
| | 14 | Sinfonia Concertante in E-Flat Major, K. 364: III. Presto | 06:43 |
Capella Istropolitana (Orchestra)
Nishizaki, Takako (violin)
Gunzenhauser, Stephen (Conductor)
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra)
Taddei, Marc Decio (Conductor)
| | 15 | Viola Concerto: II. Vivo, con molto preciso (1962 version) | 04:35 |
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra)
Taddei, Marc Decio (Conductor)
Marc Lewon is an expert in Early Music, specialising in instruments of the lute family. His combined musicological scholarship and countless years of concert activity provide him with the ideal qualifications for an interdisciplinary approach to research and practice for the music of the Middle Ages and Renaissance.
He performs with his own Ensemble Leones, which he founded in 2008, and is a member of several other renowned groups, such as Le Miroir de Musique, Dragma, Peregrina and Per-Sonat.
His output consists of more than 50 albums and over 30 musicological publications.
He holds a doctorate in music from the University of Oxford and in 2017 was appointed the professor for Medieval and Renaissance Lute at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis.
For more information, visit www.lewon.de.
Paul Kieffer is a lutenist and specialist of early plucked instruments. As a chamber musician and multi-instrumentalist, his concert activities have taken him all over Europe, and he features on over a dozen albums. As a solo lutenist, he has released three critically acclaimed albums.
He studied at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, Switzerland, where he received a Master of Arts with honours. His musicological activity is focused on the lute and on ancient musical traditions, and his writing appears in publications of the Lute Society (UK) and Oxford University Press.
For more information, visit www.paulkieffer.com.
Grace Newcombe is the founder and director of the ensemble RUMORUM and performs separately with renowned medieval-Renaissance ensembles including Ensemble Leones, ensemble Peregrina, Le Miroir de Musique, and Ensemble gilles Binchois.
She studied musicology at the University of Oxford, where she was also organ scholar at Hertford College. With the support of a Leverhulme Trust scholarship, she completed a Masters in medieval-Renaissance singing at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis with professors Kathleen Dineen and Dominique Vellard, where she also learned historical harp and keyboard. Alongside her performance career, grace is in the final stages of her PhD research on medieval British song.
For more information, visit www.gracenewcombe.com.
