Il Cimbalo Cromatico Napoletano
Alan Curtis, harpsichord
 
Toccate, capricci & other pieces by de Macque,
Luigi and Michelangelo Rossi, Trabaci, Mayone,
del Buono, Salvatori & Gregorio Strozzi.
Nuova Era 7177.
 
In light of the recent discussions here on the
topic of historic temperaments and the incidence
of chromaticism and enharmonicity, I thought it
might be appropriate to draw attention to this CD,
which probably will not pop up in the bins at
your local mall.
 
This is a program of very interesting music of
the period of approx. 1575-1650, the era which
includes such composers as Luzzaschi, Gesualdo,
Monteverdi and Frescobaldi.  Not only is the
music intensely interesting to anyone enthusiastic
about music of this period, but the notes are
commensurately pithy and informative.
 
Harpsichord aficionados mostly know that many
Italian harpsichords of the period cited were
equipped with split sharps, accidentals that
activate more than one string or set of strings,
so that differentiation between D sharp and E
flat, for example, is possible.  Many of the
same will be familiar with a famous harpsichord
of the period described by Vincentino in Ferrara
in 1555, an instrument that boasts no less than
53 notes (and keys) per octave!  This instrument
is cited in the notes to Prof. Curtis's recording.
 
The arcicembalo was adopted by Luzzaschi, protector
and teacher of Frescobaldi, a few years before
the famous visit to that court by Prince Carlo
de Gesualdo and his retinue.  The arcicembalo was
used at Gesualdo's second wedding at Ferrara in 1594,
(whatever happened to the _first_ Mrs. Gesualdo?)
and if you check your dates it's in this period
that Gesualdo composed and collected his fantastic
madrigals.  In Gesualdo's train was Scipione Stella
 (check Wildboar WLBR 8001 - LP only) who upon his
return to Naples
constructed a harpsichord of 53 notes per octave...
which leads us to the Neapolitan Michelangelo Rossi
and his now-famous toccatas.
 
In short, this CD and its very short essay by Alan
Curtis tie together a lot of threads regarding the
late Renaissance mannerists and their early baroque
successors in a very economical and elegant way.
There is also a longer essay by Mariateresa Dellaborra
which examines the music in more detail.
 
The only disappointment I found is that the recordings
were done, not using an instrument of molti sharpi,
though Prof Curtis reminisces about using an harpsichord
of 17 notes/octave in a 1966 Berkeley performance of
_Incoronazione di Poppea_, the instrument employed
has exactly twelve notes/octave, and the intonational
effects are achieved through the miracles of modern
digital editing.  Given the complexity of the music,
and the multiple occurrences of F double sharps and
such, that feat must have required quite a battle plan.
 
In short, I recommend this disc very highly,
- if anyone is interested.
 
Joseph Spencer
 
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