GIROLAMO FRESCOBALDI (1583-1643)

CD I

First Book
Toccate e partite d’intavolatura di cimbalo, libro primo
(Rome, 1615/1616/1637)

harpsichord
01 Toccata prima
02 Toccata seconda
03 Toccata terza
04 Toccata quarta
05 Toccata quinta
06 Toccata sesta
07 Partite sopra la Monica (1615)
08 Partite sopra la Romanesca (1616)
09 Partite sopra Ruggiero (1616)
10 Toccata settima
11 Toccata ottava
12 Toccata nona
13 Toccata decima
14 Aria detta Balletto [Second Book]

CD II

Second Book
Il secondo libro di toccate, canzone, versi d’hinni, Magnificat, gagliarde, correnti et altre partite d’intavolatura di cimbalo et organo
(Rome, 1627/1637)

harpsichord
01 Toccata prima
02 Toccata seconda
03 Toccata settima
04 Toccata nona
05 Toccata decima
06 Toccata undecima

organ
07 Toccata terza (per l’organo da sonarsi alla levatione)
08 Toccata quarta (per l’organo da sonarsi alla levatione)
09 Toccata quinta (sopra i pedali per l’organo, e senza)
10 Toccata sesta (per l’organo sopra i pedali, e senza)
11 Toccata ottava (di durezze, e ligature)
12 Canzona quinta
13 Toccata undecima [First Book]

harpsichord
14 Canzona prima
15 Canzona terza
16 Aria detta la Frescobalda
17 Ancidetemi pur

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About this CD

For as much as Fabio Bonizzoni is drawn to the splendours of Baroque music for voices and orchestra – as demonstrated through his award-winning recordings with La Risonanza – his keyboard-playing instincts are constantly urging him to tackle masterpieces of the keyboard repertory. Most recently having applied his musical insight and virtuosity to Bach’s Die Kunst der Fuge, Bonizzoni now pits himself against another, albeit earlier, Baroque master in Girolamo Frescobaldi.

Frequently-cited as being as important for keyboard music as Monteverdi was for vocal and dramatic fare, the genius of the Ferrara-born Frescobaldi was amply recognized when working in Rome and Florence – periods when he published (and revised) the two books of toccatas (but including canzonas and partitas or variations sets) recorded by Bonizzoni here. Frescobaldi’s toccatas allow for – and draw from Bonizzoni – great interpretative flexibility, calling for rhythmic freedom, not to say drama and emotion. Indeed, Bonizzoni, clearly mindful of the new demands of the seconda prattica in Frescobaldi’s time, likens the toccatas to being madrigals without words: poetry lies at the heart of his performances.

This new recording from Glossa has Bonizzoni playing on a splendid modern copy of an Italian Baroque harpsichord and on the idiosyncratic organ of the Basilica of Santa Barbara in Mantua. Along the way, Bonizzoni has puzzled out – and describes in the booklet – how best to draw out the sound appropriate for Frescobaldi’s music from this mysterious instrument.