FRESCOBALDI: Il Regno d’amore – Mariana Flores, soprano/ Clamatis Ensemble/ Leonardo Garcia-Alarcon – Ricercar RIC300, 61:03 [Distr. by Allegro] *****:
Although known primarily from his position as organist at St. Peter’s in Rome, and for his keyboard works, many of Frescobaldi’s most attractive, even seductive, compositions are linked to Florence and the Grand Duke of Tuscany.
Led by Leonardo Garcia-Alarcon, the superb Clamatis ensemble (violin, harp, bass viol, theorbe, guitar, harpsichord and organ) offers ten arias taken from the composer’s two books of “Arie musicali,” presented in counterpoint with a selection of his instrumental “Canzoni.” They are organized in three parts (secular love, sacred love and the dance) interwoven with toccatas and passacaglias which taken together constitute a generous helping of the complete “Regno.”
Raised in the stylistic Baroque school of Gabriel Garrido, Garcia-Alarcon loves to use as many continuo instruments as can be comfortably accommodated, including guitar, harp, harpsichord, bass viol, theorbe and organ, and is totally willing to replace a second voice, as in “Se m’amamte, io v’adoro” or “Begli occhi” with a bass viol and violin. The rich instrumental apparatus never threatens to cover the solid soprano of Mariana Flores, nor to disturb the tender arcadian delights or dolorous lamentations of Mary at the foot of the Cross.
The enchanting sound was recorded in the Notre-Dame de Centeilles church, notable for its 14th and 15th century frescoes and Roman mosaics, in the Languedocian town of Siran, near the Mediterranean. Jerome Lejeune’s liner notes are equally enchanting, and insightful as well which, for Frescobaldi, is a welcome change of pace.
— Laurence Vittes
