Credits:

Francisco Corti

Description:

The influence of the Neapolitan style revealed by the beautiful sound of the Italian harpsichord. A masterful accomplishment by the virtuoso Corti!!!] Italian talented harpsichordist Francesco Corti, who made a splash with his solo visit to Japan in 2018, and whose Handel's "Eight Suites" (A499/NYCX-10285) was a big hit on the ARCANA label. He has also made a series of masterful recordings of baroque operas and Bach concertos with the ancient instrumental group Il Pomo d'Oro, but this time he returns to his roots as an ancient keyboardist to explore Frescobaldi, who was an organist for the papal court in the first half of the 17th century and established an immortal status in the history of baroque keyboard music. The elaborate and multifaceted musical language of this important composer did not come from nothing, but was greatly influenced by the highly dissonant and experimental keyboard techniques that had been fostered in Naples since the previous century, and this exhibition explores these influences through performances of specific works. Here we explore the relationship between these influences through the performance of specific works.The selection and the order of the pieces are full of discoveries, as if a "rough sketch" of the golden age of Frescobaldi's masterpieces is being revealed as we are exposed to the elegant interpretations woven by two harpsichords based on the Italian model of the Baroque period and returning to the harmonic sense around 1600. The inclusion of many famous toccatas and variations is also very pleasing.) The instruments, all of which are made by Philippe Humeau, a master craftsman who is a favorite of many players in the world of European classical music, have the sharp angularity of Italian instruments, and they do not lose their graininess in rapid passages, while the richness of the timbre in each note is most attractive. The exquisite work of engineer Ken Yoshida, who has been active on the ALPHA label, is also a reliable source of information about the moderate reverberation of the church, which has been the recording site of many famous recordings of ancient music. Japanese translation of the commentary on the domestic edition by Tatsuo Shirasawa, Naxos Japan.