Nobilissimo Istromento: Virtuoso Lute Music of the Italian Renaissance

Featuring

Luca Pianca
Francesco da Milano
Giovanni Maria da Crema
Claudin de Sermisy
Vincenzo Capirola
Perino Fiorentino

Francesco Bendusi
Jean Richafort
Giulio Cesare Barbetta
Orazio Tiberio Vecchi
Giulio Segni
Antonio Rotta
Joan Ambrosio Dalza

Did you know?

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Performer Biography

Luca Pianca directs the Bach cycle at the Vienna Konzerthaus, dedicated to performing all of Bach's cantatas, with his ensemble Claudiana and the Wiener Sängerknaben.

Performer Biography

Luca Pianca's main interests include the works of Claudio Monteverdi and J. S. Bach, and the great Italian lutenists of the Renaissance, but he has also collaborated with rock legend Sting.

Performer Biography

Luca Pianca has won numerous awards for his recordings, including the Gramophone Award, Choc du Monde de la Musique, and five Diapason d'Or awards.

Performer Biography

Luca Pianca, the lutenist, was a co-founder of the ensemble Il Giardino Armonico and has toured extensively with them as a soloist and continuo player.

Interpretation

The lutenist on this album, Luca Pianca, uses "artificial" fingernails to create a more percussive sound, a technique supported by historical documents but contrasting with modern philological practice.

Instruments

A recently rediscovered fresco on an external vault of the Santa Maria Assunta church depicts a lute-playing angel with an instrument similar to the one used for this recording.

Recording & Production

This recording was made in the 15th-century church of Santa Maria Assunta in Villa Luganese, Switzerland, whose reverberant acoustics supported the Renaissance lute's sound.