Search - Tetraktys :: O Tu Cara Scienza Mia Musica -- Works from Squarcialupi Codex

A welcome overview of 14th century Italian secular music

Eddie Konczal | 11/05/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Collections of 14th century Medieval music often focus on the best-known composers: Guillaume Machaut, Francesco Landini, and a few others. The Italian-based consort Tetraktys turns the spotlight on lesser-known Italian composers featured in the Squarcialupi Codex, a musical manuscript compiled in the early 15th Century. The result is a richly textured, exquisitely performed collection of late Medieval songs that should appeal to most aficionados of early music.



The Squarcialupi Codex, named for the Florentine organist who owned it during the 15th Century, contains only secular music: ballata, madrigals, and cacce. The works of 14 composers appeared in this manuscript, half of whom are represented on this disc: Giovanni da Cascia, Gherardellus de Florentia, Laurentius de Florentia, Vincenzo da Rimini, Nicolaus de Perugia, Bartolino da Padova, and Andreas de Florentia.



The 4-piece Tetraktys (Jill Feldman, soprano, Maria Cleary, harp, Kees Boeke, flute and viol, and Silvia Tecardi, viol) brings these works to live with verve and virtuosity. Tetraktys expertly captures the melismatic vocal and instrumental lines that characterize 14th century music. The sparseness of the instrumentation creates a sonic space from which the melodies emerge almost organically. The excessively florid vocal melodies threaten to overwhelm modern ears, but Feldman's versatile voice miraculously makes them palatable to today's listener.



"O Tu Cara Sciença Mie Musica" offers a welcome overview of 14th century Italian secular music. The works of the Squarcialupi Codex may be an acquired taste for modern listeners, but Tetraktys makes them highly accessible and quite enjoyable.

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