Di guerra e di pace: Renaissance Music for Winds & Percussion La Pifarescha

• 1 Pavana del povero soldato 02:45
• 2 Pavane 02:55
• 3 Gaillarde 02:36
• 4 Adieu mes amours 02:26
• 5 No. 5. Vecchie letrose non valete niente (arr. for chamber ensemble) 01:35
• 6 Basse dance I [Neuf basses dances: Paris, 1530] 02:16
• 7 No. 7. Entre du fol 01:18
• 8 Im Maien (arr. for chamber ensemble) 02:12
• 9 La Morra 02:35
• 10 Tiers livre de danseries: Les Bouffons 01:48
• 11 Pavana Ferrareze 01:38
• 12 Gaillarda Ferrareze 01:38
• 13 Patientiam muess ich han (arr. for chamber ensemble) 02:13
• 14 Die vollen Bruedern [Liederbuch des Johannes Heer von Glarus, 1510-1530] 01:55
• 15 Symphonia nobili sirene organa - In laudem summi Regis [Codex Nikolaus Apel, 1490-1504] 01:49
• 16 Belle qui tiens ma vie (arr. for chamber ensemble) 01:57
• 17 Pastorella 02:39
• 18 Amoroso 02:54
• 19 Mille regretz 01:37
• 20 No. 39. Pavan: Mille regretz 01:35
• 21 Pastorella 03:02
• 22 Nichts werders ist 01:57
• 23 O partita crudele [No. 97: I-Pec MS 431-G 20, 15th Century] 02:24
• 24 Scaramella va alla guerra 02:26
• 25 Allemande [Premier Livre de Danceries: Antwerp, 1571] 02:34
• Total Runtime 54:44

Info for Di guerra e di pace: Renaissance Music for Winds & Percussion

Given the prevalence of war in the Europe of the Renaissance it is no real surprise that warlike themes and echoes of battles should find their ways into secular and civic music compositions – or even into religious ones (such as the many L’Homme armé and La Bataille masses of the time). With Di guerra e di pace, La Pifarescha captures the contrast between the roar and rhythms of battle and the celebrations of courtly and popular festivities as would have been performed by an alta cappella ensemble from the Middle Ages through to the dawn of the Baroque: shawms, slide trumpets and sackbuts, plus other wind instruments buttressed by percussion instruments.

The music of well-known composers from the period – Josquin, Isaac, Willaert, Phalèse, Susato and Senfl – is conjured up in virtuosic performances from this Italian ensemble, La Pifarescha, making its first appearance on Glossa (even if its members are regular instrumental contributors to performances and recordings by the likes of Cantica Symphonia or La Venexiana).

This modern journey, creating a Renaissance “soundtrack”, embraces not just war and peace but also the contrast of European and Arabic and Asiatic influences from the times of the Crusades through to civic bands playing for the residents in Renaissance Venice or Bologna. In creating this enjoyable and improvisation-filled entertainment the members of La Pifarescha wear their scholarly knowledge lightly as they play their way from the popular to the erudite and back.

La Pifarescha:
Stefano Vezzani, recorders, pipe and tabor, shawms
Marco Ferrari, recorders, shawms, bagpipes
Mauro Morini, sackbuts, slide trumpet, buisine
David Yacus, sackbuts, buisine
Fabio Tricomi, fiddle, pipe and tabor, percussion
Svetlana Fomina, fiddle
Gabriele Miracle, dulcimer, percussion

La Pifarescha
was originally conceived as an alta cappella ensemble, a configuration of wind and percussion instruments that was immensely popular throughout medieval and renaissance Europe.

This type of group enjoyed such widespread popularity for its unique ability to function both on its own and in supporting roles with other instrumental ensembles, vocal ensembles, and dance companies.

La Pifarescha incorporates a fascinating and diverse selection of instruments. Shawms, sackbuts, cornetts, trumpets, bagpipes, dulcians, flutes, fiddles, lutes, viols, percussion, and many others, join together to alternate the sounds of 'alta” with the “bassa cappella', offering a highly variable sonority unique to this group.

Thus, La Pifarescha traces the evolution from the alta cappella to the noble consort of cornetts and sackbuts, which appeared on the scene during the renaissance and flourished in the early baroque, often expanding its ranks to include keyboards, strings, and voices.

Regularly present in prestigious festivals throughout Europe, La Pifarescha has recorded for CPO, Classic Voice, Dynamic and Arts.

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