Michelangelo Galilei (1575-1631) 
Echo Ex Iove
Israel Golani (lute)
No recording details supplied
Reviewed as a WAV download.
Solaire Records LC 100821 [10]

I first came across Israel Golani on the Solaire Records label with his album In the Garden of Polyphony (review), with an entire stable of French Renaissance composers on offer. This ‘mini-album’ presents solo works of Italian composer Michelangelo Galilei, who was the son of music theorist and lutenist Vincenzo Galilei, younger brother of Galileo Galilei, and a distinctive voice in the late-Renaissance lute tradition.

Performed on a ten-course lute, this recording explores Galilei’s expressive range, from the rhythmic vitality of dance-based structures to the ornamental intricacy and blend of Italian and French stylistic elements the provide a vehicle for improvisatory freedom. This world of sound is presented over six quite brief movements that form their own suite. The opening Toccata is slow and reflective, delivering us with a heightened poetic sensibility into a pair of dances, the three-in-a-bar Corrente and a Volta with surprising irregular phrasing and rhythms. The Passamezzo is a relatively simple sounding but elegant Italian folk dance, while the Seconda parte is quite lyrical in its major/minor shifts of tonality. The sequence concludes with another dance with Italian origins, a sweet Saltarello.   

This mini-album’s title, Echo Ex Iove, literally translates as an “Echo from Jupiter”, evoking both the celestial symbolism associated with the Galilei family and the intimate resonance of the lute itself. We are told that “the concept behind this project is to offer a focused selection that suits contemporary listening habits, allowing audiences to become acquainted with Michelangelo Galilei’s music and Golani’s interpretive voice.” As such this is a format that has yet to prove itself, but with fine playing and an intimately communicative recording this could easily be an entry point that switches you on to the subtle refinements of rare late-Renaissance and early Baroque repertoire.

Dominy Clements     

Contents:
Toccata
Corrente
Volta
Passamezzo
Seconda parte
Saltarello