l'entropia

In physics, entropy measures the degree of disorder in a system and the associated ordering possibilities. Lina Tur Bonet chose this term as the title for her new cd on GLOSSA, on which she - together with theorbist Jadran Duncumb - interprets Italian violin music of the so-called stylus phantasticus. This style developed at the end of the 16th century in Italy from the practice of improvisation. It is characterized by highly expressive playing in which short, sometimes dissonant and bizarre figures, sometimes extreme chromaticism, rapid virtuosic runs and sections with ostinato basses are combined as in a free improvisation. Johann Mattheson confirmed this impression in his book Der vollkommene Kapellmeister in 1739: "For this style is the freest and most unlimited manner of composing, singing and playing that one can imagine, because one soon encounters this idea and then that one, as all sorts of otherwise unusual passages, hidden ornaments, meaningful turns and embellishments are produced, without actual observation of the key and the tone; sometimes hasty, sometimes hesitant; sometimes monophonic, sometimes polyphonic; sometimes a short time after the key: without mass of sound; but not without the intention to please, to hasten and to astonish." For Lina Tur Bonet, the entropy of the stylus phantasticus symbolizes the unexpected turns to which the two musicians expose each other. It stands for the unpredictable character of a piece in a free, quasi-improvised interpretation. The spontaneity of the reactions of the two players allows the creativity of the stylus phantasticus to flourish in an entirely new way and leads the listener to an untamed and fantastic cosmos full of surprises.