NAGRANIE REFERENCYJNE - 20bit - FIBER OPTIC DISK
Like ancient Athens, or the mythic Atlantis, few cities capture the imagination like fifteenth-century Florence, crowned a golden place by her inhabitants and by history. The humanist Marsilio Ficino echoed a common belief that Florence was the "shining new Jerusalem" when he wrote, "this is an age of gold, which has brought back to life the almost extinguished liberal disciplines of poetry, eloquence, painting, architecture, sculpture, music, and singing to the Orphic lyre. And all this at Florence!? The city was as famous for its festivals and grand spectacles as it was for its artists, merchants, philosophers, politicians, poets and priests. In three major festivals ? carnival, calendim?ggio (May 1), and San Giovanni (June 24), all vied for power and pride of place, weaving processions that mirrored the complexies and dangers of Florentine life. The carro, or triumphal wagon (trionfo), played an integral part in the festivities. Elaborately decorated with banners, drawn through the streets accompanied by torch bearers, singers and actors, these moving tableux vivants, not unlike the floats of modern-day parades, survive only in vivid accounts, and in the sounds of music from a distant time... This recording features the amazing sounds of Piffaro's astonishing combination of winds (including a quartet of renaissance bagpipes, shawms, krumhorns, recorders, harp, and more), with the exquisite vocalism of the award-winning Concord Ensemble. It is truly a feast of delights and spectacular sounds that will appeal to all lovers of Renaissance music... - Adam Knight Gilbert