I was just able to listen to the double CD by Luciano Contini and Francesca Torelli. This recording has been around since 1988, and I'm a bit surprized at not having encountered it before now. The level of musicality is very high and the aural quality (mic. placing, ambience, etc.) most enjoyable, (its probably one of the best lute recordings I've heard!) although some of the tracks played metal-strung sound very new to me, as Chris and Bernhard mention below. More like a lutesicord (as opposed to a Lautenwerk), gives a somewhat unusual sound, and is perhaps easier to play virtuoso style single-strung? The CD is most excellently performed, with much gusto. Piccinini's music is outstanding. He and Kapsberger and perhaps M. Galilei rule. Some tracks are also played in gut, with equally much relish. There are even several duets. (The single strung double strung issue being of course (sic) one of this list's big can of worms. Giardino Armonico, Sting, aso.) TXS a lot to David LGS-Europe for recommending this work. Now I'll just have to get hold of the highly acclaimed Contini Zamboni recording! I have only one suite by Zamboni, found on the net long ago, easy to play, and exceptionally good, and I remember that Miles has an edition in his own tablature system. Great music for the lute, and late epoch!
Best G. (cf. lute-archives 00-1) >From lute-request Wed Feb 16 19:08:14 2000 Received: from gatekeeper.hydro.com.au (gatekeeper.hydro.com.au [203.2.158.2]) by cs.dartmouth.edu (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id TAA10448 for <[email protected]>; Wed, 16 Feb 2000 19:08:08 -0500 (EST) Received: by gatekeeper.hydro.com.au; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA18586; Thu, 17 Feb 2000 11:08:00 +1100 Received: from mailwtest.hydro.com.au by mailgate.hydro.com.au; (8.8.8/1.1.8.2/09Jan96-0302PM) id LAA05693; Thu, 17 Feb 2000 11:08:30 +1100 (EST) Received: FROM exchh01.hydro.com.au BY mailwtest.hydro.com.au ; Thu Feb 17 11:08:02 2000 +1100 Received: by exchh01.hydro.com.au with Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21) id <15PKYPSH>; Thu, 17 Feb 2000 11:08:02 +1100 Message-Id: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> From: Michael Graham <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "'Alain Veylit'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "Lute Net (E-mail)" <[email protected]> Subject: RE: Demise of the lute and string tension Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2000 11:08:01 +1100 Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" "Hello Alain (and lute net), There are some interesting thoughts made below, so I thought I'd throw in some others. I think speculation about the history of the lute is very valuable and there is not enough of it. Recently I started to watch a BBS television series by a person who's name I don't recall. The Series was 5 episodes called something like music's "Big Bangs". The author addressed 5 separate topics which he considered to be fundamental turning points in musical history. What surprised me was the way the lute was dismissed, as "a sort early of fore-runner to the guitar". Obviously the red mist closed in and I did not watch the rest of the series, which is actually a pitty, as I might have learned something. Is this message actually going somewhere? Oh yes. The single/double/tension string thing. Well I don't have many opinions, but have heard a few interesting snippets. Obviously if you have 28 strings on a 14 course instrument, you are not going to be able to use as much tension on each individual string as 14 strings on a 14 course instrument. Luciano Contini actually used steel strings on his fretted courses with a tension of oround 7Kg each for the highly acclaimed Zamboni recording. This may be double the usual tension, but there are only half as many strings. The lute didn't implode, and the sound was fabulous. My own Luito Attiorbato is a copy of the Coch instrument in London's Victoria and Albert Museums. The Comments accompanying the plans suggest that there is evitence that the instrument was "Wire string" at some stage in its history. Who can say what the tension was? Also there is probably an ideal tension for any lute. If you increase the tension too much, it will begin to sound dull. Here is an interesting quote from Luciano About single strings... >>>> I know people don't want to admit it, but they were not at all strange at the time. Just one quotation from Baron's Untersuchung des Intruments der Lauten (english translation Study of the lute) 1727: Part II Chapter 1 "...Because the Roman archlutes were not so well suited to harmony, since they had only six single strings on the fingerboard, the Paduan ones were given eight single courses or strings." They simply used both, double or single courses, depending from the situation (a single strung instrument has more 'power' in chamber music) and the personal taste. <<<< Assuming quote from Baron Untersuchung is true, then playing the Zamboni of 1718 with single causes is not un-authentic. Anyway, just some stuff to think about. Kindest Regards Mike Graham Tasmania Australia" ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bernhard Hofstoetter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Bernd Haegemann" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Gernot Hilger" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "G. Crona" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Edward Martin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, May 23, 2007 5:54 PM Subject: [LUTE] Re: complete Piccinini on cd > Luciano Contini is using a wire-strung archlute (I > think it is double-strung, unlike the Zamboni > recording) and a gut-strung chitarrone which makes for > a nice contrast. > Bernhard > > --- [EMAIL PROTECTED] schrieb: > >> --- Bernd Haegemann <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> > >> > Francesca Torelli >> > >> > www.francescatorelli.com >> > >> > >> > Luciano Contini >> > >> > http://www.continiconsort.com >> > >> >> Are either of these players using nails on this >> recording a la Piccinini's suggestion? Contini used >> a >> wire-strung, single-strung lute for his Zamboni >> recording. What's he using here? >> >> Chris To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
