This album was born from the pleasure and desire to highlight the rarity and delicacy of madrigals and frottole by Philippe Verdelot and Bartolomeo Tromboncino. The beauty and “cantabile” character of this music seduced both Paul Kieffer and myself. Our musical collaboration began in 2012, during our Masters studies at the Schola Cantorum in Basel in the medieval-Renaissance department, in the classes of Crawford Young and Dominique Vellard. We immediately chose to dedicate ourselves to this magnificent repertoire.
On this album, you will also find improvisations. This manner of expression, genuine creations of the moment, is an integral part of my life as a performer. Since 2000, I experimented and grew this musical practice with my family. My brother, father and I tried out the acoustics of the churches of France and elsewhere in Europe. From these joyful and rich sonorous adventures, the vocal trio Var’s Musica was born in 2003, with the encouragement of the King’s Singers and the advice of their first countertenor at the time, David Hurley. This trio, where I still sing and which is under my leadership, specializes in improvisations and keeps this artistic genre as the highlight of our concerts.
Thus, from the beginning of this recording project, I suggested to Paul that we include improvisations and his response was enthusiastic. They are elaborated by faithfully following the prosody of Italian poetic texts. I chose, among other things, to improvise reflecting the frottole of Verdelot, while at the same time looking for present day colours and sensations.
These improvised creations spring from spontaneous moments, without any editing or cutting, keepingas close as possible to theemphases flowing from the poetic texts. The contemporary aspect of these improvisations is present not only in the continuity but also in the disruptions made in these madrigals composed for a single voice by Verdelot and Tromboncino. Petrarque’s sonnet “Voi ch’ascoltate” is an illustration of this. You will also discover, mirrored and repeated, three poems: Madonna, per voi ardo, Quanto sia liet’il giorno, Vita della mia vita.
In the very last minutes of our recording session, we experienced a timeless moment, “a bocca chiusa” in a creation we entitled “Zefiro spira” in tribute to a poem by Chiara Matraini (1514-1597). It was the exhilarating and extemporaneous birth of a new creation. We would like to share it with you, as an invitation to explore!
Gabriel Jublin © Claves Records