Saltarello Garth Knox

• 1 Black Brittany 04:00
• 2 Music for a While 03:29
• 3 I. Allegro 03:23
• 4 II. Largo 02:19
• 5 III. Presto 03:45
• 6 Fuga Libre 07:41
• 7 Ave, Generosa - Tels Rit Au Ma(T)In Qui Au Soir Pleure 07:22
• 8 Vent Nocturne: I. Sombres Miroirs (Dark Mirrors) 06:58
• 9 Flow My Tears 04:03
• 10 Vent Nocturne: II. Soupirs De L'obscur (Breaths of the Obscure) 05:49
• 11 Three Dances: Saltarello I - Ghaetta - Saltarello II 05:48
• 12 Pipe, Harp and Fiddle 05:16
• Total Runtime 59:53

Info for Saltarello

Many instrumental compositions in music history, even if they’re called sonata, suite, sinfonia or even fantasia, are essentially dances or else exhibit an unmistakable dancelike character. Not a few examples of so-called art music also have their origins in the folk music of a particular country or make use of popular or folk elements. Under the title “Saltarello”, a 14th-century fast Italian dance in ¾ time that survives today as a folk dance, viola player Garth Knox couples works stretching from the 12th century to the present day and demonstrates how fragile, even arbitrary, is the line drawn between art and folk music, but also that between old music and new sounds. Taking up fiddle, viola and viola d’amore, accompanied by cellist Agnès Vesterman and percussionist Sylvain Lemêtre, Knox presents his own works alongside music by Hildegard von Bingen; he juxtaposes the exquisite Renaissance sounds of John Dowland against pieces by Kaija Saariaho that make subtle use of electronics, and sets arrangements of traditional melodies and anonymous dance movements against Vivaldi’s D minor Viola d’amore Concerto – a sensuous survey of 1000 years of musical events.

'The repertory swirls across the centuries: eloquent, pared down arrangements of Dowland and Purcell songs for viola d'amore and cello, and a complete Vivaldi concerto reduced to its bare outline rub shoulders with vigorous folk dances and a flowing transition from Hildegard of Bingen to Machaut 200 years later, all unified by Knox's clear-sighted vision and superb, earthy playing.' (Nicholas Kenyon, The Observer)

Garth Knox, fiddle, viola, viola d’amore
Agnès Vesterman, violoncello
Sylvain Lemêtre, percussion

No biography found.

Booklet for Saltarello