Customer Rating: 
Summary: A gorgeous album!
Comment: First, a few words about the ensemble, L'Arpeggiata, from their "myspace" page:
"Arpeggiata is a baroque music ensemble directed by the harpist and lute player Christina Pluhar [pictured on the cover]. Its members are today's finest instrumentalists and in addition they work with the most exceptional singers from the Baroque and the traditional music worlds.
"Arpeggiata's work and philosophy is based on improvisations on the music of the 17th century, a rich sound texture by blending all colours of various plucked instruments from the baroque period, a vocal interpretation influenced by traditional Italian music."
Stringed instruments plucked, strummed, bowed, and hammered, they're all there, and wind instruments sometimes appear. On this album, the featured wind instruments are the clarinet, and the cornetto or Zink, with its trumpet-like sound. Both are played with great effect. Two solo vocalist are also featured.
This album, recorded in 2004, was my favorite album until their "Los Impossibles" came out two years later, in 2006. Now my favorite is whichever one I'm listening to at the time. It's too bad there are no sample tracks from "All'Imrovviso" that you can listen too, but there =are= such tracks with "Los Impossibles." Go there and listen to them. You'll learn more about the ensemble and the music than you would from any written description. Buy both albums now, and you won't regret it!
From the program notes, in French, with my clarifications.
The ensemble: L'Arpeggiata
Their director: Christina Pluhar
The vocalists: Lucia Galeazzi, Marco Beasley
Instruments played on this album include:
:: Plucked strings ::
archiluth [archlute]
chitarra battente
colascione
guitare baroque
harpe baroque
luth renaissance
psalterion [hammered dulcimer]
psalterion [hackbrett]
theorbe [theorbo]
:: Bowed strings ::
basse de violon "a la [viola] bastarda"
contrebasse
lirone
viole
violon baroque [violone]
violoncelle piccolo
:: Winds ::
clarinette alto
clarinette piccolo
cornet a bouquin [cornett, cornetto, zink]
Customer Rating:
Summary: Not a real review...
Comment: I cannot yet vouch for the entire CD but if the third track is any indication, this will be very enjoyable. Judge for yourself, search YouTube for "Pluhar Italienne", and listen to une ame italienne.
Very beautiful music.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Delightful traditional music improvisations from Europe and the Americas
Comment: This is a delightful CD, full of new improvisations of Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and South American traditional music. Many of the selections are light, beautiful, courtly and were played in their original versions in the courts of Europe in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. Many are traditional dance songs that spread through the Latin world of Europe and the Americas. The instrumentation is fantastic with guitars, castanets, tambourines, and clarinets. Like many folks songs and dances, the tempo is appropriate for fast movements on the dance floor. These works demonstrate the movement of musical compositions and dances between the Romance language countries of Europe and the colonies in the new world. After writing this review, I will start looking for my next purchase of a CD by Christina Pluhar.
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