Il Rossignolo, the Tuscan ensemble plays early music on original instruments
We recommend concerts by Il Rossignolo, the ensemble that is based in Florence and Pisa and is considered “one of the finest young Italian groups playing early music”..
Internationally acclaimed as “one of the finest young Italian groups playing early music” for its interpretative verve “that combines extraordinary and inspired vitality with philological strength” Il Rossignolo is an ensemble that specializes in performing early music on historical instruments. Marica Testi, Martino Noferi, flute players and Ottaviano Tenerani, harpsichordist and conductor, are the group’s founders and they coordinate the musicians who are dedicated to discovering and reviving sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth century repertoires and performing techniques
Il Rossignolo’s members have given concerts and produced recordings as soloists and with the most prestigious Renaissance and Baroque music ensembles . Their concerts have been broadcast by RAI, BBC, ORF, ABC, and Radio Vaticana. In addition to performing, the group works on musicological research and publishes both historic articles and early music scores.
After their first recording of the complete madrigals and canzonette by Orazio Caccini (first international recording – 1998) for EMA Il Rossignolo is currently recording a series of discs for TACTUS, CPO focused on the early eighteenth century Italian repertoire, and is working on projects dedicated to G. Ph. Telemann and G.F. Handel. According to the concert programs, Il Rossignolo varies the number of players and their use of instruments – from chamber ensemble to full orchestra.
With its years of dedication to the philological approach regarding both the instruments and interpretations of the music, Il Rossignolo works in two main directions.
On the one hand, they focus on composers often defined as “minor” or who have been neglected up to now and – who frequently offer wonderful musical surprises; on the other they seek out less performed or little known works by more famous composers. They embarked on this dual approach on the basis of the conviction that it is impossible to truly know a period through just a few and repeatedly played examples of music which are considered sporadic and isolated “specimens” rather than brilliant compositions created in a general, continuing context that had already achieved outstanding technical and artistic levels.
The group’s recording work also moves along these same two lines. The first of these criteria led to the projects for Orazio Caccini’s madrigals and canzonette for five voices, (CD selected by the magazine Early Music) the Chamber Symphonies by G.B. Martini (rated best CD by The Classic Voice, May 2002), and the Nocturnes by G.B. Sammartini (A marvelous disc – Classical Music);
The second concerns the concertos and symphonies by Alessandro Scarlatti (an extraordinary divertissment - Concerto), Antonio Vivaldi’s concertos for violin and organ (Il Rossignolo…a seasoned ensemble, with good lively color and technical precision – Musica ).
The group’s most recent CD, Sonate Opus 2 by Benedetto Marcello /solo sonatas for harpsichord was received as “a brilliant interpretation as we expect from Italian musicians performing Italian music”, and was voted best disc of the year.
The next recordings will focus on the complete collection of cantatas for solo voice and wind instruments by Alessandro Scarlatti, the works of Georg Philipp Telemann and various “Handelian novelties”.
In the theater the group has worked hard with director and philologist costume designer Alessio Rosati, on the production of Acis, Galatea and Polyphemus by Georg Friedrich Händel, on the settings for the first modern performance La Caduta de’ Decemviri, an opera in three acts by Alessandro Scarlatti, and the oratorio “Il Trionfo della Santissima Vergine Assunta in Cielo”, also by Scarlatti.
The group’s recent engagements in Tuscany include the two concerts on the Fleischer harpsichord that belongs to the Museo Stibbert in Florence, the settings for the Scarlatti Oratorio at the Teatro della Pergola (for the Amici della Musica di Firenze), concerts for the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa and for the Festival Contemporaneamente Barocco in Siena. Most recently, Il Rossignolo were the guests of Amici della Musica di Verona and performed a completely Handel recital at the Handel House in London.
The group’s discs – that are sold throughout Europe, Asia and the United States – and their concerts have been reviewed and acclaimed by magazines, newspapers and sites such as Amadeus, American Record Guide, Le Monde de la Musique, Il Giornale della Musica, Audiophile, CD Classics, Gramophone, Orfeo, Opera, Early Music, Warner- Fonit Classic, The Classic Voice, Diapason, Musica, Suonare News, Records International Catalogue, Classic.com, Yahoo.Classic, Concerto, Musical America.com, Promo Music, Musica e dischi, Opera now, Classic Today.com, Maquetacion, Classical Music, MusicWeb International, AllegroMusic.com, Il Sole 24 Ore, La Stampa, Il Corriere della Sera, TV Sorrisi e Canzoni, Libero, La Nazione, La Repubblica.
For the Associazione Musica Antica Ludus Tonalis and the Festival Contemporaneamente Barocco, Il Rossignolo has been the resident group at the Teatri di Siena since 2008.
