The latest edition of the music supplement to Lute News is even more
recherché (no pun intended) than usual: contrasting reconstructions of
recercars from the Pesaro MS with German preludes from a century later!
The music is edited by John H. Robinson. In the case of the Pesaro
pieces, they are reconstructions. The heart-shaped Pesaro MS is
(still?) the first known music written for lute and from before 1500. It
really is for scholars and specialists to work out what the tablature
represents and after all that there is the problem of making sense of
it. In a discussion of this music on this list a few years ago, Denys
Stephens noted that it was probably the work of an amateur and he also
said that John H. Robinson had a flair for making sense of this
confusing and seemingly garbled music.
Well it is strange music, I think - one step or quite a few steps a way
from similar-ish music in Dalza, Bossinensis etc.
Sean (Smith) pointed out to me a while ago that this sort of music
sounds best when it does what it is intended to do: to precede a more
structured composition such as a dance or a chanson setting. But John H.
Robinson seems to want to see the pieces from a century apart in
relation to one another....
So here's a quick go at the first two pieces in the Music Supplement,
the first from Pesaro (1490s) and the second from Waissel (1591).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LZjHvni2kg
Stuart
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