Strozzi - Donna Barbara: Songs
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Label: Lawo Classics
Cat No: LWC1333
Format: CD
Number of Discs: 1
Genre: Vocal/Choral
Release Date: 19th July 2024
Contents
Works
Amor dormiglioneBegl'occhi, bel seno, bei crini e bella bocca
Chiamata a nuovi amori
Il Romeo
L'Eraclito amoroso
L'amante bugiardo
L'amante consolato
L'amante segreto
La fanciulletta semplice
Lagrime mie
Lilla Crudele ad onta d'amore
Non volete ch'io mi dolga
Per un bacio
Tra le speranze e'l timore
Artists
Berit Norbakken (soprano)Solmund Nystabakk (lutes)
Works
Amor dormiglioneBegl'occhi, bel seno, bei crini e bella bocca
Chiamata a nuovi amori
Il Romeo
L'Eraclito amoroso
L'amante bugiardo
L'amante consolato
L'amante segreto
La fanciulletta semplice
Lagrime mie
Lilla Crudele ad onta d'amore
Non volete ch'io mi dolga
Per un bacio
Tra le speranze e'l timore
Artists
Berit Norbakken (soprano)Solmund Nystabakk (lutes)
About
This album documents some of our meetings with Barbara Strozzi.
In her time, and long after her death, Barbara Strozzi was a legendary performer, something that in her case has been highlighted far more than among her male colleagues. Why? In light of her extensive production and publishing activities, it seems almost absurd that she should not be considered a composer on par with anyone else, and one wonders if this too has to do with gender, if being a singer is so much less controversial for a woman than being a composer, that it has almost functioned as a "mitigating circumstance"?
As an artist, you have more direct connection to the music compared to experiencing it through someone else's rendition. The fact that Barbara Strozzi wrote so much of her music with her own performances in mind, means that her pieces become places or spaces where one can immerse oneself in another (her?) way of making music. In these spaces, Barbara's authority as a performer, and originator, of the music becomes available to us as co-creators today.
The freedom and flexibility that come from accompanying oneself as Barbara did has been a model for our work in the duo format. This involves a coherence that gives us the freedom for spontaneous turns and variations along the way in the music, so that each performance becomes different. The continuous practice singing and playing the music again and again, with openness to both planned and spontaneous variations, becomes more crucial to the audible result than one specific interpretation of each piece as a composition.
In her time, and long after her death, Barbara Strozzi was a legendary performer, something that in her case has been highlighted far more than among her male colleagues. Why? In light of her extensive production and publishing activities, it seems almost absurd that she should not be considered a composer on par with anyone else, and one wonders if this too has to do with gender, if being a singer is so much less controversial for a woman than being a composer, that it has almost functioned as a "mitigating circumstance"?
As an artist, you have more direct connection to the music compared to experiencing it through someone else's rendition. The fact that Barbara Strozzi wrote so much of her music with her own performances in mind, means that her pieces become places or spaces where one can immerse oneself in another (her?) way of making music. In these spaces, Barbara's authority as a performer, and originator, of the music becomes available to us as co-creators today.
The freedom and flexibility that come from accompanying oneself as Barbara did has been a model for our work in the duo format. This involves a coherence that gives us the freedom for spontaneous turns and variations along the way in the music, so that each performance becomes different. The continuous practice singing and playing the music again and again, with openness to both planned and spontaneous variations, becomes more crucial to the audible result than one specific interpretation of each piece as a composition.
Sound/Video
Paused
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1L’Eraclito amoroso
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2L’amante bugiardo
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3L’amante consolato
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4Il Romeo
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5La fanciulletta semplice
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6Per un bacio
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7Tra le speranze e ’l timore
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8L’amante segreto
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9Lilla crudele ad onta d’amore
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10Begl’occhi bel seno
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11Chiamata a nuovi amori
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12Non volete ch’io mi dolga?
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13Lagrime mie
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14Amor dormiglione
Europadisc Review
The adopted (and perhaps illegitimate) daughter of poet and dramatist Giulio Strozzi, Barbara Strozzi (1619–1677) grew up in cultivated surroundings in her native Venice. By the age of 12 she had already developed a remarkable vocal talent, as well as the ability to accompany herself on lute or theorbo. As her virtuosic gifts as a singer became apparent, Giulio arranged for her to take composition lessons with no less a figure than Francesco Cavalli. By the time of Barbara’s 16th birthday, Giulio had established the learned Accademia degli Unisoni, a musical offshoot of the literary Accademia degli Incogniti, at which his daughter was able to demonstrate her musical talents. From 1644 Barbara began publishing her own works: eight collections over the next two decades, of which only one (op.4) is lost. Most of her output consists of solo arias, ariettas and cantatas which showcase the soprano voice and give us a good idea of her remarkable talents as both performer and composer.
Even before the current explosion of interest in women composers (both historical and contemporary), Strozzi’s musical output has become more widely recorded in recent years, but a new disc from Norwegian soprano Berit Norbakken and her lutenist compatriot Solmund Nystabakk on the LAWO label is particularly welcome for the evident thought and engagement with which it has been conceived. Clearly the result of careful preparation through prior performance, ‘Donna Barbara’ – recorded in the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation's Store Studio in Oslo – creates space for a stylish and fresh spontaneity, as well as bearing witness to a close working relationship so essential in music which was originally designed for self-accompaniment.
Norbakken’s voice is crystal-clear, her idiomatic delivery of the Italian texts providing plentiful evidence of her experience in both early and more recent music. Many of these arias – ranging from just a couple of minutes in duration to more extended items – are preoccupied with the torments of love, and although that’s par for the course with secular music of this period, we may fancy that Strozzi’s own circumstances (she never married, but bore four children, at least three of them to one of Giorgio’s friends, Giovanni Paolo Vidman) find expressive echoes in these pieces. If that is so, then the lighter-toned items suggest a personality of uncommon intelligence, vivacity and spirit.
However that may be, the emotional range and pliancy of Norbakken’s singing is evident in the lament-like opening track, L’Eraclito amoroso (‘Heraclitus in Love’), where Nystabakk’s subtle shading of the accompaniment – sometimes the plucked notes are barely whispered – matches the nuances of the voice. The following number, L’amante bugiardo, may be more upbeat, but the subject (‘The Cheating Lover’) hints at a recurring theme. Il Romeo (‘The Wanderer’) treats a proto-Romantic theme in the manner of the early Baroque seconda prattica, while the strophic La fanciuletta semplice (‘The Simple Maiden’) has a delightfully carefree mood, with a catchy refrain, which perfectly suits its subject.
Tra le speranze e'l timor (‘Between Hope and Fear’) is a captivating dialogue for solo voice with a deliciously throwaway ending, the performers here suggesting a mood of ‘this conversation is now over’. Following this, L’amante segreto (‘The Secret Lover’) is built over a bass line of a repeated descending fourth of the sort that became one of the Baroque era’s most effective building blocks. The opening of Lilla crudele ad onta d’amore (‘Cruel Lilla is Love’s Disgrace’) features the quickfire repeated notes of the early Baroque stile concitato, delivered by Norbakken with enviable skill and naturalness, her pure, ringing tone combined with a hint of velvety sensuousness.
The longest item here is the powerful Lagrime mie, lamento (‘My Tears, Lament’), whose pained opening here evokes a Mediterranean, almost Levantine atmosphere which (together with sinewy sliding chromatic inflections) is the more remarkable given the provenance of the performance. It’s one of many reminders throughout the album of how fully Norbakken and Nystabakk inhabit this music’s expressive world. The poised intensity of this extended aria is counterpointed by the gentle humour of the closing number, Amor dormiglione (‘Sleepy Cupid’).
As a single-disc introduction to Strozzi’s art, this album now leads the field. The recording is immediate but with a pleasing warmth, while the compact introductory notes (just two pages) ensure that texts and translations can be printed at legible size. As Strozzi was so deft at the art of capturing the meaning of the words, this forms an essential part of this release’s enjoyment. Thoroughly recommended!
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