Barsotti, Veronica
J. H. Kapsberger, S. L. Weiss, D. Scarlatti: Baroque Sr
This Da Vinci Classics album is a fascinating compilation where works by Silvius Leopold Weiss and his contemporary and friend Domenico Scarlatti are juxtaposed. Weiss was the leading lutenist of his time, and Scarlatti one of the finest keyboard composers and performers. Their works are offered here in a transcription for the guitar. the instrument of destinations timbre, adopted for both kinds of transcription, puts paradoxically in the spotlight the difference in sound, texture, and technique among them. Weiss and Scarlatti, who were truly "European" musicians, and who left an indelible mark in the history of their respective instruments, each developed a highly original and unique style, which is, at the same time, idiomatic for their instrument and universal. And these traits are both evidenced by the transcriptions recorded here, where their works acquire a more abstract value, somehow transcending the hic and nunc of their composition, and presenting themselves as works of pure musical art.