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RECORDING INFORMATION |
This album features the more famous Alto Recorder concerto works in the cataloge by Handle and Vivaldi. Eva Rosa plays the Alto Recorder while Enrico Rosa peforms the accompanyment with his own arrangement for the guitar.
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| COMMENTS & REVIEWS |
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DBSilver
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Published on: 19 Jan 2004
If prog and fusion are your only interests, Rosae is probably not a recording that will be of interest to you. This first Rosae album is a collection of recorder and guitar music from Handel, Vivaldi, and Enrio Rosa arrangements inspired from 12th century music.
Enrico Rosa will be recognized by prog fans for his work as the guitarist for the Italian prog band Campo di Marti. He is a fantastic guitar player and as shown on this album, equally as skilled at arranging music for the guitar. It is his arrangements of the accompaniment parts onto the guitar and his subtle and perfect delivery of this which is the highlight of this album.
Obviously the guitar is not going to sound like a chamber orchestra. For classical concerto's the continuum is often transcribed to the Harpsichord or piano because with the right arrangement and performance it can do a very good job at approximating the combined effect of the chamber orchestra accompanyment parts. To ask this of a guitar is a bit of a stretch given the limited amount of simultaneous notes it can play. Whereas a keyboard instrument can both chord on one hand and noodle around on the other and a guitar can't hope to match this. Enrico however has produced an incredible set of transcriptions to the guitar (to include strumming chords! on occasion) and shows why he is a world-class guitarist in their delivery. The result is every bit as exciting and interesting as a full chamber accompanyment.
Some years back my family bought me a pear-wood alto recorder for father's day. Frankly I am not very good at playing it. I also own about 30 CDs for recorder including 3 recordings each of the Handel and Vivaldi concertos that are found hear on Rosae.
In the recorder world, names like Marion Verbruggen and Michala Petri are among the best known and there is a significant quality difference between these world class performers and Eva Rosa. While Eva Rossa on her worst day is 10 times the recorder player I will be on my best day, hers cannot be considered to be a virtuoso performance on the recorder. While she bravely tackles this music there are many weaknesses in her results. The recorder sounds heavy instead of sprightly, her attacks on the notes feel loose rather than precise or crisp, while there are dynamic range changes between phrases, there are very few within phrases and her phrasing is marred by the way notes waiver off as they come to an end between phrases or just before breaths.
Although my comments about the recorder playing are certainly not flattering, I am not trying to trash it either. While Eva Rosae's current skills with the instrument (if the performances here reflect accurately) would not normally see a release on a CD it must be said that they are enjoyable none-the-less she is in fact an accomplished performer. (I own more than a dozen Petri CD releases and 6 or more others with Verbruggen. It may be to the disadvantage of Eva and perhaps unfair that I have reference to the pinnacle of this very difficult instrument's recorded works for reference). Regardless, when mixed with Enrico Rosa's incredible transcriptions and performaces on the guitar I absolutely consider the Rosae CD to be a real treat and his contribution is able to elevate this CD to one of significant value. His work makes a signifcant contribution to the Handel and Vivaldi concertos (albiet on one movement of the Vivaldi). It is the kind of contribution that is normally reserved only for the featured instrument. The result is a good album and one I would recommend to those who like chamber music.
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| TRACKS |
CREDITS
(click to view performer credits) |
PROGGNOSIS SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY
(click to view Release Page) |
Handel: Sonata A Minor
- Larghetto
- Allegro
- Adagio
- Allegro
Vivaldi: Concerto in C
- Largo
Rosa
- Flamenco Variations
Rosa/Anonymous
- Back In Time
- Trotto
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