In Tabernae Musica - Benedetto Ferrari: Musiche Varie a voce sola (2012)

The music's the thing here, for the smaller forms of vocal music as they developed in early seventeenth century Italy remain less well understood than their operatic counterparts. For the general listener vocal chamber music of the 1630s and 1640s, the period when the music on this disc originated, is not too often encountered, and any additions to the discography are welcome. Benedetto Ferrari, born in Reggio Emilia, gained fame as a player of the theorbo in Rome, where he was known as "Benedetto della Tiorba" (Benedetto the Theorbo Player). He capitalized on his fame, plying his trade as player and composer between Venice and Modena, and later as far afield as Vienna. Today the works on this disc might be called single-movement solo cantatas. Between two and eight minutes long (except for one more substantial sacred piece), they are characterized by quick, supple expressive shifts rather than by a formal multisectional construction. Following the texts (given only in Italian in the booklet, and even the English translation of the notes is barely intelligible as such in spots), the music shifts not only between incipient recitative and aria but also between duple and triple meter, and between diatonic and chromatic idioms. The overall effect is lively and colorful, making one wish groups such as those led by Rinaldo Alessandrini would take up this repertory. As it stands now one has a rather plain soprano in Patrizia Durando, rather murky sound, and a large collection of continuo instruments played by the ensemble In Tabernae Musica and shaped by director Massimo Lonardi. The group includes such novelties as the claviorgano hybrid and the chitarra battente, adding to the kaleidoscopic effect but sometimes, when a large group is playing at the same time, overpowering the soloist. For an investigative ensemble that unearths new repertory, In Tabernae Musica neither exceeds nor misses expectations here, and the repertory itself was well worth pulling out of history's cabinets. ~ James Manheim