Capricci

The works of theorist Bellerofonte Castaldi and guitarist Domenico Pellegrini are little known, yet they continue to fascinate their interpreters to this day, because they not only bear witness to a fertile musical imagination, but also raise many questions about their performance practice. Although Castaldi was the first to praise the innovative style of his friend Monteverdi, his works are characterized by a strong Renaissance spirit. Castaldi and Pellegrini chose not only the most classical forms (dances, courantes, galliards), but also the most archaic (branles, batailles, canzoni). The lutenist, theorbo player and baroque guitarist Albane Imbs now presents her first solo album after founding her own ensemble Les Kapsber'girls and performing in ensembles under the direction of Jordi Savall, François Lazarevitch, Raphaël Pichon and Rolf Lislevand, the great Norwegian lutenist/theorbo player who was her teacher. Here Imbs and Lislevand perform Castaldi's Capricci a due stromenti, the only example of music written for a duo of theorbo and tiorbino, the tiorbino being a miniature theorbo that Castaldi himself invented and played.