Simone Molinaro (1565-1615)
Danses et Fantaisies du premier livre de tablature de luth

Ugo Nastrucci, luth (Luth à 8 cœurs de M. Baldinelli, Italie, 2016)

Molinaro, joueur de théorbe, ne pouvant compter que sur lui-même après l'assassinat de l'oncle musicien qui l'avait élevé, enseigna, se fit prêtre, devint maître de chapelle à Gênes en 1601 et fut révoqué en 1616 à cause de son mariage avec une veuve fortunée. Il acquit ensuite de hautes positions. Sa réputation dépassait les frontières : M. Praetorius par exemple l'estimait beaucoup. Sa composition majeure reste sa tablature pour luth. Si son idiome est celui de la renaissance, ses idées musicales doivent beaucoup au contrepoint flamand, linéaire et horizontal. Pièces très construites, d'une noblesse, d'une élégance et d'une distinction constantes. L'utilisation de rythmes répétés est ici le résultat d'un chevauchement des lignes vocales. Le contrepoint est parfois animé par une deuxième idée thématique : dans la Fantazia Terza, par exemple, la répétition continue du fragment initial pendant les 40 premières mesures est suivie du sujet majestueux, obtenu en inversant le premier thème. Les pièces, difficiles en dépit de leur apparence, sont émaillées de passage d'une grande virtuosité. La plus célèbre, "le ballo detto il Conte Orlando", transcrit il y a plus d'un siècle par Oscar Chilesotti et réarrangé par Respighi dans sa 1re des suites pour orchestre "Antiche arie e danze per liuto", termine l'enregistrement. Si U. Nastricci n'a pas la stupéfiante aisance et la poésie de Paul O'Dette, si son jeu est parfois plus vert, plus heurté, moins serein, moins décanté, il livre là une interprétation néanmoins attachante. (Bertrand Abraham)

Lute music by a true Renaissance man: publisher, teacher and performer, Genovese man of letters and musician to his fingertips. Acknowledged as a model and authority by the great German composer Michael Praetorius, Simone Molinaro (1565-1636) is little known today but was known throughout Europe in his own age. He died as master of music at the ducal palace of Genoa, an eminent role he had held for a decade. Born into a musical family, he trained as a church musician and took vows in the early stages of priesthood before begin dismissed in 1616 as Chapel Master of music at the Cathedral in Genoa, having the previous year married into local aristocracy. All the while he continued to play, to teach and to compose on his principal instrument, the theorbo. This book of dances, fantasias and intabulations (transcriptions) was published in 1599 and it demonstrates a comprehensive knowledge of the instrument and its repertoire. The rich and challenging chords and fingerings demonstrate Molinaro’s own virtuosity as a performer. There is something quintessentially noble about Molinaro’s work as a composer. Although his idiom is that of the Renaissance, his musical ideas reveal the sort of horizontal, linear development that owes much to Flemish counterpoint. In Ugo Nastrucci’s careful ordering of the volume, moments of strict counterpoint alternate with lighter virtuoso variations in the extended passamezzi which contrast with elegant galliards and sprightly saltarellos. Nastrucci contributes his own, invaluable essay on the composer and his music to the booklet. He closes the album with what is probably Molinaro’s most famous piece, the Ballo detto il Conte Orlando which was transcribed over a century ago in modern notation by Oscar Chilesotti, and rearranged by Ottorino Respighi in the first suite of his Antiche arie e danze of 1917.