Pieces for Lute [Import]

Paul O'Dette (Artist), Dall'Aquila (Composer), none (Conductor) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Conductor: none
• Composer: Dall'Aquila
• Audio CD (April 13, 2010)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Harmonia Mundi
• ASIN: B003064CZ0
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #136,170 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Star lutenist Paul O Dette turns his focus on Marco dall Aquila (c1480-1544), a composer of remarkable individuality and creativity. In the lute s transition from late-medieval style into fully formed Renaissance idiom,
dall Aquila was a pivotal figure, and his trademark style brisé influenced the development of instrumental music for the next 200 years. dall Aquila was based in Venice, where he was given a license to print lute tablature. He is acknowledged in the preface to Francesco da Milano s work published in 1536 as an important predecessor. Relatively little survives of dall Aquila s lute music and nothing of what he may have printed himself in the early days of music printing at the beginning of the 16th century. Though perhaps best known for his recitals and recordings of virtuoso solo lute music, Paul O Dette maintains an active international career as a continuo player, performing with today s most respected conductors and ensembles. He is also the Artistic Director of the Boston Early Music Festival and conducts baroque operas and orchestral programs throughout the United States and Europe.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Listen before you buy, May 6, 2010

By 

Lyle Crawford (BC, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pieces for Lute (Audio CD)

This brief review is a comment on the recorded sound. A note by O'dette inserted into the booklet explains the circumstances under which this recording was made. An earthquake forced a last minute change of recording location, to the historically suitable, but unfortunately acoustically less suitable, Castello Piccolomini in Capestrano. O'dette remarks: "While the acoustics of the Castello are perhaps more reverberant than one is accustomed to hearing on lute recordings it is nevertheless a venerable edifice that Marco may well have known, and it lends a special air of historical presence to the sound."

Unfortunately this is a bit of an understatement. Even if you don't insist on a dry, neutral acoustic for lute, the reverb here really is out of control. Many tracks end with a noticeable abrupt attenuation that cuts off what would clearly be several seconds of decaying sound. Much of the playing, though wonderful as always from O'dette, is an unpleasant jumble of sound. Perhaps I'm just naive about the logistics and constraints of classical music recordings, but it is hard to believe that a one-man, one-lute recording project could not have been rescheduled so as to find a suitable location. This music deserved better from Harmonia Mundi.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Warts and all, thi is a keeper, October 21, 2010

By 

o dubhthaigh (north rustico, pei, canada) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: dall'Aquila: Pieces for Lute (MP3 Download)

... and infinitely more full of life than either of the other renditions of dall'Aquila's works I've listened to. A little echo-ey indeed, but O'Dette seems determined to play these pieces like he's on fire and I found the performances riveting. Maybe you need to come at this from something other than a digitized sterile recording studio, an aesthetic that seems to infuse most classical reviews. I prefer live recordings almost always to studio jobs. Even Knappertsbusch's live Ring cycles from the 50's and 60's will get me on my feet and soaring more than any more polished studio version. Give me Miles, 'Trane, King Crimson naked and alive, and I'm a happy boy.
In this case, dall'Aquila's music in a church seems to fill the sound out, rather than something pristine and perfect. O'Dette is such a master that he commits his whole heart to this effort and i can hear it and I'm thrilled. Take off points if you can't dig being where an artist is working without a net, but I'll play this a lot in the years ahead.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Disastrous, May 19, 2010

By 

Sir Cecil (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pieces for Lute (Audio CD)

The sound of this CD is the worst I have ever heard for a solo lute recording. That it is a Paul O'Dette performance that is so disfigured by the engineering makes this all the more disastrous. The confusion of the sound amidst the shockingly bad reverberation makes this CD almost unlistenable in my opinion. This will be the first O'Dette recording to be excluded from my collection. Dire.