[16/10/2007] : El Correo - >> Voir la coupure de presse
Un mélange de madrigaux et de tangos ouvre la saison de musique de chambre du BOS
L'Ensemble La Chimera inaugure aujourd'hui avec son "Buenos Aires Madrigal", un mix de XVIIe
italien et tangos argentins, la saison de musique de chambre du BOS (Bilbao Orquesta Sinfonica).
Eduardo Egüez, le luthiste et directeur de l'Ensemble, a expliqué hier au Palacio Euskalduna que l'idée était de réunir deux pays (l'italie et l'argentine), deux époques et deux styles
très différents.
"Si une gitare peut interpréter de la musique ancienne, pourquoi le luth ne pourrait pas le faire avec de la musique moderne ?" Voici en résumé l'offre musicale de La Chimera. Violes de gamba, luth, contrebasse, violoncelle...et un bandonéon pour réunir dans un même programme le bariton Furio Zanasi et la mezzosoprano Susanna Moncayo.
Ce mélange n'étonne nullement ses inventeurs. "Les thématiques sont les mêmes : migration, solitude, absence, rêve, dance... malgré une qualité litéraire diff érente. Pourquoi se limiter à une seule musique ?"- s'interroge Eduardo Egüez, le irecteur de l'Ensemble.
Elena Sierra. Bilbao
[03/2004] : Amadeus
Un'idea tanto oroginale quanto affascinanto: unire in un solo disco registrazioni di madrigali italiani e tanghi di Buenos Aires. Da un lato un ensemble di musica antica, dall'altro formazioni guidate dalle voci di Furio Zanasi e Ximena Biondo, e dal mantice di un bandoneón: il risultato è incantevole. Anche perché questo raffronto tra epoche e stili è fatto secondo un preciso filo logico: quello di avvicinare madrigali e tanghi attorno alle tematiche che principalmento li caratterizzano. Ovvero la solitudine, l'assenza, il sogno, il ballo, il viaggio e i chiaroscuri. Diverse aree espressive poste a confonto in oltre sessanta minuti di musica, splendidamente eseguita da strumentisti italiani e argentini. Ma la vera sensazione generata dall'ascolto di questo disco, è come il fluire riesca a essere continuo tra mondi diversissimi, fino a che continenti opposti si fodono assieme, e un bandonéon imrovvisa sulle linee di un madrigale di Cipriano de Rore. Per ascoltare subito dopo un piccolo capolavoro quale Ausencia su testo di Borges, splendide pagine italiane (originali) e rivistazioni di parti strumentali madrigalistiche su testi di Garde, chiudendo con gemme di tango.
[31/07/2004] : Classics Today
What a pleasant surprise! A tango program wrapped in an enigmatic, early-music-like cover, cloaked in a mysterious, historical/stylistic concept. There are lots of old instruments, from gambas to baroque cello to lutes and guitars. There's Monteverdi and Marenzio and Rore. But wait. Is that a bandoneón? And the two singers, an at-once sultry and sensuous Ximena Biondo and the silky-voiced, equally impassioned Furio Zanasi, manage to package Monteverdi and Piazzolla together without pouffing a single period-performance eyebrow. Hmmm. Maybe this concept does work. The arrangements, many of them by La Chimera lutenists/guitarists Eduardo Egü ez and Francisco Gato, are first rate, respectfully incorporating stylistic features from 17th-century Italy and more modern Argentina with colorful instrumental combinations. And the vocalists imbue everything they sing with passion, personality, and appropriate attention to this music's secular, physical, often erotic origins. And speaking of erotic--a second look at the disc's cover suggests an interpretation quite apart from a refined, closer to one more earthly (and earthy).
In a way, it's a good thing that there are no liner notes, no earnest, effortful, scholar-certified attempt to convince us of a direct madrigal/tango link. Instead, we can just sit back and enjoy this fabulous, from-the-heart-and-soul music, whether by Marenzio or Cavalli or Gardel or Borges. The fact is, it's a wonderful combination of melody and rhythm and ardent vocalism--and that bandoneón really does make sense! All I can say is, enjoy!
David Vernier
[07/04] : Home Theater and High Fidelity Magazine n°48
With new distribution by Classiquest and Trade Secrets, Todd Garfinkle of M.A Recordings has released yet another of his extraordinary multi-cultural explorations. This time he mixes Argentine Tangos and 17th century Italian madrigals. The ostensible purpose of this curious mix is to “journey through the fundamental subject area that inspired both the old Italian Madrigal and the Buenos Aires Tango… Through migrations, solitude, conflicts, absence, dance, dreams, and death. Through the ‘places of the soul’ united and marked by irreparable loses, voyages of no return, hopes on the other shore, exercises in nostalgia.”
Oh my. Truth be told, lots and lots of music takes us on similar journeys, from early Appalachian folk music to rock ballads. I question just how much is revealed by the unusual juxtaposition of music from an earlier Italy and modern Argentina. But accepted on its own terms, as music per se, there is much here to enjoy.
Singers Furio Zanasi and Ximena Biondo y have the drama of Argentinean tango in their voices and blood. The longing and heart-throbbing emotion of Piazzolla, Gardel and other composers is milked for all it’s worth; nothing is left to the imagination. What’s most interesting is the extent to which the singers adopt similar modes of expression when performing tango and classic madrigals by Frescobaldi, Monteverdi, Cavalli, and de Rore. Listening to Zanasi first sing Troilo’s “Garüa” and followed by Monteverdi’s (attrib.) “Voglio di vita uscir” leaves me wondering which was is up.
Credit must go to the accompaniment by La Chimera, an excellent ensemble that mixes Argentinean bandone ón, harmonica, and guitar with violins, viola da gamba, baroque cello, double bass, and lutes. Their instrumental solos are quite beautiful, if not always authentic sounding. Definitely a disc worth exploring, with M.A’s spacious, demonstration-quality sonics a definite plus.
Jason Victor Serinus
[26/03/2004] : Sixmoons
Blue Moon Award for Brilliant Juxtaposition and Stylistic Merging in the Italian Baroque & Argentine Tango categories.
Madrigals -- from the Latin matricalis, "of the mother" -- were popular in 13th/14th century Italy and 16th/17th century England as songs for multiple, usually unaccompanied, voices. The word also connotes a short pastoral or love poem suitable to be sung as a madrigal. Alas, the location "Buenos Aires" and pointer "early fusion" as well as the sub header "Argentine Tangos & Italian Madrigals" on the present m.a. recordings issue immediately stretches expectations. Is this some kind of musical terra nova in the very successful vein of Séra Una Noche and its successor, La Segunda, on the same label?
One glance at the ensemble's makeup confirms similarities: There's Andrea de Carlo on double bass, viola de gamba and harmonica; Sabina Colonna-Prety on viola da gamba and lirone; Martin Zeller on viola da gamba and baroque cello; Gabriel Rivano on bandoneon; Fabrizio Zanella on violins; Francisco Gato and Eduardo Egüez on lutes and various guitars; and Ximena Biondo and Furio Zanasi on vocals. The programme divides into the sections "Migraciones", "Soledad", Chiaroscuro", Ausencia", "Ballo" and "Sueño". The color coding of the 21 tracks in the liner notes indicates Argentina and Italy as respective origins, thus suggesting that this project was primarily interested in the juxtaposition of two worlds and their styles, rather than overlaying them in the hopes of creating a seamless hybrid.
This isn't entirely true. The first appearance of the improvised bandoneon on "Ancor che co'l partire" which, otherwise, is a scored baroque/Medieval piece, corrects our assumptions and, conceptually as well as in how well it works, recalls Jan Garbarek's exploits with the Hilliard ensemble. Madrigal's fluid transitions quickly erase real and envisioned boundaries to reveal a surprising amount of common ground between the centuries and continents, some historical, some perhaps only imaginary - but only a music historian would stand a chance to distinguish, such is the zipper-like intermeshing and resultant sense of wholeness and coherence. Astounding, actually. Who woulda thunk?
What could have remained a bravely original pitch looking far better on paper than ringing true on location -- the Italian Parrocchia di S. Vittore of Agrate/Conturbia -- turns out to be a supremely natural affair that gains immeasurably from the contrasts of the warm timbres of the bowed baroque string instruments and the sharper, more incisive attacks of the bandoneon and harmonica; the tempestuous, nearly violent vocalizing of tango versus the controlled, articulated and over-enunciated Italian counterparts mimicking the rapid legato-and-trills instrumental playing styles of the day.
In fact, Buenos Aires Madrigal is as brilliant at fashioning a new cohesive musical reality as Abed Azrié was in the creation of his fictitious court in Suerte that juxtaposed Sumerian, Moorish, Flamenco and Arabian worlds, or Carlos Nuñez with Brotherhood of the Stars that integrated Galician, Flamenco, Cuban and Gaelic/Irish influences. Is credit for the present example due to the ensemble La Chimera - the listed musicians minus the two guest singers? To label maven Todd Garfinkle whose batting average with these cross-cultural hybrid experimentations is unusually high? I don't know. It seems safest to acknowledge them all and compliment them on a stunning achievement that combines first-rate musicianship, m.a.'s usual high recording and production values and, most importantly, some very unusual contextual twists that should delight casual listeners and trained musicians alike. It's the third section of the triptych begun with Séra and Segunda. Those who habitually belabor the dearth of original music in today's corporate hit factory mentality merely need to start looking in different places - and Madrigal qualifies with a vengeance. How about it?
Srajan Ebaen
http://www.moonlightrecords.com
Da casa M.A. Recordings, nota label audiophile, un cd che ha avuto recensioni eccellenti anche sotto l’aspetto musicale. Si tratta di un progetto di musicisti argentini che interpretano tango e madrigali alternando musiche di Troilo e Piazzolla con quelle di Monteverdi e Frescobaldi. Sotto ogni punto di vista, un’inarrivabile qualità artistico-musicale per questo progetto.
Buenos Aires Madrigal – Argentine Tango & Italian Madrigals Feat Furio Zanasi e Ximena Biondo, voci, e il gruppo La Chimera con Gabriel Rivano, bandoneon, e Fabrizio Zanella, Sabina colonna-Preti, Martin Zeller, Andrea De carlo, Francisco Gato, Eduardo Eguez.
[21/11/03] : Il Venerdì di Repubblica N°818
Solo il ricordo di Piazzolla mi porta a rubricare come jazz questo album M.A. dove i musicisti de La Chimera, un gruppo argentino di qualità va in bilico fra passato madrigalesco e tanghi con tanto di lirone e di fisarmonica, di chitarra e di liuto, viola da gamba e voci (Furio Zanasi e Ximena Biondo). Non lasciatevi intimorire: ci si diverte, e il profumo del tango tutto divora alla fine, tutto emulsiona.
Enzo Siciliano
[16/11/03] : Il Sole 24 Ore Domenica N°314
Il disco incuriosisce: Frescobaldi con Piazzolla, che ci fa? E Luca Marenzio con Gardel? L’alternanza è ardita, quasi al bordo della provocazione. Ma questi giovani della “Chimera” suonano con tanto gusto, che alla fine convincono. Hanno dalla loro che i pezzi (21) sono uno più bello dell’altro. E ultimo viene Monteverdi col “Pianto di Orfeo”, giustamente messo in coda.