Vinni la primavera

Music in Sicily at the time of Dante

Available in: SACD, DSD, Hi-Res Audio

Track list:

1. Echo la primavera / Vinni la primavera 3’59”
2. Nota di lavandaie della Chianta 3’12”
3. Assolo di marranzanu 1’23”
4. Furnarisca 2’40”
5. Dolce lo mio drudo 3’18”
6. Canto di carrettiere 3’24”
7. E Vanténde 4’29”
8. Reis glorios/Spara lu forti ‘i l’Andria / Ballettu 4’30”
9. Estampida ghaetta 6’06”
10. Tan m'abellis 1’35”
11. Tarantellina 2’12”
12. Surfarara 3’06”
13. Meravigliosamente 4’05”
14. Rex glorius 3’31”
15. Cantu a capuana 2’21”
16. Ben volgra 2’38”
17. A la mazzarisa 3’24”
18. Barcillunisa 2’29”
19. ‘U pisari 2’51”
20. Strenci li labri 6’27”

Total Time 67’40”

Notes

Conceived, recorded and produced by Giulio Cesare Ricci
Recorded at the Piaggio Museum Auditorium
Pontedera on 4 - 5 July 2021
Valve microphones Neumann U47, U48,M49
Mike pre-amplifiers, cables (line, digital, microphone, supply) Signoricci
Recorded in stereo DSD on Pyramix Recorder using dCS A/D and D/A converters.

The mastering for the SACD was carried out by Giulio Cesare Ricci using the Signoricci system, entirely analog and tube-based.

Dante never visited Sicily, despite loving it and thinking of it as a mythical place, a melting pot of ancient Mediterranean cultures. There are therefore some interesting connections between him and the island. In this musical journey through Sicily between the 13th and 14th centuries, Al Qantarah seeks sonic and poetic suggestions that can be traced back to the influence of the supreme poet, and back to his own formation, strongly shaped by the cultural heritage that found fertile ground precisely in Sicily. The spirit of the Ensemble tries not to create a contrast between the use of learned and oral tradition sources, mixing them, as in the Sicilian tradition we find poetic themes, forms of polyphony and musical instruments found in surviving manuscripts and in medieval iconography. The intention is always to draw on written documents from the past and give them life through the style preserved by the people of Sicily, and vice versa to select and clean from the inevitable stratifications the current traditional repertoires, in an imaginary performance at the time of Dante.