Desde hace ya más de una década, Cantica Symphonia se dedica a la recuperación e interpretación de polifonía medieval y renacentista. Fundado en 1995 por Giuseppe Maletto y Svetlana Fomina, el grupo es en la actualidad uno de los más respetados en su especialidad. Su estilo único, fruto de un minucioso análisis de las fuentes originales, está caracterizado por su especial habilidad a la hora de sacar a la superficie la riqueza estructural y expresiva de este repertorio. Su acercamiento a la interpretación incluye un cuidadoso tratamiento de la interacción entre voces e instrumentos, consolidando así una muy especial experiencia colectiva para sus miembros, que a nivel individual colaboran con los grupos más destacados de la escena de la música antigua internacional. El pilar fundamental de la actividad del grupo siempre ha sido la música de Guillaume Dufay, el primer gran músico de la era “moderna”, cuyas obras iluminaron su época y guiaron a la música occidental en su complejo tránsito de la Edad Media al Renacimiento.
Desde 2005, Cantica Symphonia ha grabado en exclusiva para Glossa, donde ha publicado una fundamental trilogía dedicada a la música de Dufay: dos volúmenes de motetes (Quadrivium y Supremum est mortalibus bonum) y un disco con chansons (Tempio dell’Onore e delle Vertù). Todos ellos han sido muy valorados por la crítica internacional.
Las apariciones en vivo del grupo han sido siempre recibidas con el mismo calor que sus grabaciones. Cantica Symphonia ha actuado en Italia, Francia, Bélgica, Holanda, Suiza, Estonia y Eslovenia, y aparece regularmente en prestigiosos festivales como los Rencontres de Musique Médiévale du Thoronet, el Festival van Vlaanderen en Brujas y Amberes, Tage Alter Musik en Regensburg, Concerts de St. Germain en Ginebra, Settembre Musical y Unione Musicale en Turín…
Los compositores Filippo Del Corno, Carlo Galante y Yakov Gubanov han compuesto expresamente para Cantica Symphonia. Algunas de estas obras están incluidas en el hasta ahora último disco del grupo, Stella del nostro mar, una selección íntima de motetes y laudes realizada sólo con voces, a la espera de su próximo proyecto a gran escala, que verá la luz en 2009.
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Giuseppe Maletto ejerce una intensa actividad como cantante profesional, dedicado principalmente a la polifonía medieval y renacentista y a la música de Claudio Monteverdi. Algunos de los prestigiosos grupos con los que colabora son La Venexiana, La Petite Bande, Hespèrion XXI, Ensemble Gilles Binchois, Concerto Italiano y Mala Punica. Aparte de las numerosas giras por Europa, Estados Unidos, Israel, Japón y Argentina, Maletto ha grabado más de cuarenta CDs, muchos de ellos ampliamente premiados por la prensa internacional (Deutscher Schallplattenpreis, Prix Cecilia, Diapason d’Or de l’Année, Premio Cini, Gramophone Award).
Además de la especializada actividad en el marco de su grupo, Cantica Symphonia, Maletto ha dirigido interpretaciones de obras de Monteverdi, Carissimi, Purcell o Bach. Ha impartido cursos en la Scuola di Alto Perfezionamento Musicale en Saluzzo (Italia), en el Corso Internazionale di Musica Antica en Polizzi Generosa (también en Italia), o en el Conservatorio de Novosibirsk (Rusia).
On its onward journey across the major secular and sacred landmarks of Italian Renaissance polyphony, La Compagnia del Madrigale has now turned its attention to Claudio Monteverdi’s Vespro della Beata Vergine and this new recording on Glossa presents this award-winning chamber ensemble in its prime and in the company of Cantica Symphonia and La Pifarescha, all under the direction of Giuseppe Maletto: a veritable cornucopia of present-day early music performers! [read more...]
Has it really been five years since Cantica Symphonia’s last outing on Glossa? As well as producing two discs which survey the beauties of other important composers from the fifteenth century, Giuseppe Maletto’s steering of this Italian vocal and instrumental ensemble has been focusing much of its performing activity and research on a giant of that time: Guillaume Dufay. Three earlier discs have already focused on the remarkably-varied testament of Dufay through his motets and chansons. What gives the new disc – Dufay: The Masses for 1453 – added force is that it focuses on two of the masses which this Franco-Flemish composer (who lived for the first three quarters of the fifteenth century, and who was widely-travelled in Europe) is best-known for, but with the special and well-honed vocal and instrumental form of interpretation that Cantica Symphonia has made its own in this repertoire. [read more...]
The collective artistic endeavours of Glossa have recently been recognized with an award of Label of the Year for 2014 by a Europe-wide panel of classical music media organizations – print and online magazines, as well as radio broadcasters – who form the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) jury. This is to be presented at the Award Ceremony and Gala Concert in the Philharmonic Hall in Warsaw in April 2014. The Glossa adventure began back in 1992, led by two pioneering Spanish instrumentalists – brothers José Miguel Moreno and Emilio Moreno – who set about creating a treasure trove of recorded excellence, notably in the ever-developing field of “early music”. To this day, the label remains focused on its artists, supporting their musical journeys and inclinations, with the artistic direction entrusted to Carlos Céster. With a small team around him Céster operates from San Lorenzo de El Escorial, surrounded by the abundant natural riches of the mountains around Madrid and with an austere Monasterio in sight to ever encourage him in the rigour of his work. [read more...]
For many years Cantica Symphonia has devoted much performing, musicological and recording energy over the music of the French composer Guillaume Dufay. Born at the dawn of the 15th century, Dufay’s musical career looked back to medieval conventions and forward to the early Renaissance. He was a much-travelled figure and was regularly present as musician, composer and emissary of church and secular powers at the many Ecumenical Councils held by the Roman Catholic Church during these turbulent political times. Dufay was often called on to write motets for important occasions such as the dedication of the Duomo of Florence – Nuper rosarum flores – or an especially critical meeting between the Pope, Eugenius IV and the Emperor, Sigismund – Supremum est mortalibus bonum (the names of both these two are to be found within the words of the motet). [read more...]