"If we except the three canzonas published in Venice in Alessandro Raverii's anthology of 1608, the Canzoni of 1628 and 1635 form the first important collection of works by Girolamo Frescobaldi not explicitly (or sometimes implicitly) intended for the keyboard (organ or harpsichord), of which he was a master. Mature works, written when the composer was forty-five, these instrumental canzonas, matchless in their scope, took to its apogee a well-established genre. The canzona had developed from lute and keyboard arrangements of Franco-Flemish chansons, which in turn served as models to Italian composers for original compositions either for organ or for instrumental ensemble. The latter, known as canzoni da sonar, led in turn to the seventeenth-century sonata. Each of Frescobaldi's instrumental canzonas forms a varied but unified whole. These pieces have obviously been put together with care. They represent a 'manifesto' of the new stile concertato, and their arrangement in the different volumes follows a progression based on the number of voices, from canzoni a voce solo with continuo, showing brilliant virtuosity and invention, to clearly polyphonic pieces, more typical of the composer's capriccios. With the exception of the last three pieces of the Masotti edition (scored for spinettina), the contents show remarkable unity, like the Fantasie of 1607 and the Capricci of 1624." (Etienne Darbellay, tr. Mary Pardoe. From the liner notes.)
Performers: Les Basses Réunies, Bruno Cocset
1. Vigesimaquarta A Due Bassi E Canto 'Detta La Nobile' (Prima A 3)
2. Ottava A Basso Solo Detta L'ambitiosa
3. Prima A 4, Canto Alto Tenor Basse 'Sopra Rugier'
4. Seconda A Canto Solo 'Detta La Bernardinia'
5. Undecima A Due Canti 'Detta La Plettenberger'
6. Prima A 2 Bassi
7. Trigesima Quinta 'Detta L'Alessandrina'
8. Seconda A 2, Canto E Basso
9. Terza A 2, Canto E Basso
10. Prima A Basso Solo (Sesta 'Detta Laltera')
11. Quinta A 4, Canto Alto Tenor Basse
12. Decimasettima A Due Bassi 'Detta La Diodata'
13.Quarta A 4, Due Canti E Due Bassi
14. Prima A 2, Canto E Basso
15. Quintadecima A 2 Bassi 'Detta La Lieuoratta'
16. Settima A Basso Solo Detta La Superba
17. Decimasesta A 2 Bassi 'Detta La Samminiata'
18. Seconda A 4, Due Canti E Due Bassi
19. Quinta A 3, Due Canti E Basso
20. Terza A Canto Solo 'Detta La Donatina'
21. Seconda A 4, Canto Alto Tenor Basse 'Sopra Romanesca'
flac, 16-bit
