TRAVERSE CONSORT
3D AUDIO INSTALLATION
The performance 'Traverse consort' broadens the conventional concept of the 'here and now' that characterizes traditional concerts.
It unfolds across multiple points in both space and time, where historically informed performance practices intersect with high-fidelity audio innovations.
This unique dimension engages the audience in a truly holistic experience.
After a long career as a conductor of orchestral and polyphonic ensembles, I have concentrated the inner image of the work and its sonic realization into a single moment in this interpretative format, forgoing the mediation of a vocal or instrumental ensemble.
During the concert, I alternate between various instruments, performing a melodic line live while the other lines, which I previously recorded, are played back through speakers that deliver ultra-high resolution sound with extraordinary fidelity via a specially designed hi-fi audio system.
The Renaissance traverse consort was created by Vincenzo De Gregorio, a builder recognized as an international authority, who fulfilled the needs of this project with artistic sensitivity and profound expertise.
The vast repertoire of Renaissance music is immense; however, the compositions deemed suitable for Renaissance traverses flute are relatively few. This limitation is due to the intrinsic characteristics of these instruments, where not all notes can be easily produced, tuned, or rendered with timbral homogeneity. Other families of instruments, such as violas, recorders, or lutes, can rely on a greater number of sizes and face fewer executional challenges.
Traditionally, the traverse consort is limited to three sizes: treble (in A or G), tenor (in D), and bass (in G). However, I have requested additional sizes from the builder, a practice that has historical precedent, judging by the original instruments from the 1500s and early 1600s. This has allowed me to explore vocal and instrumental repertoires across the various aspects of Renaissance music, including sacred and secular vocal productions, the instrumental language of Frescobaldi and Trabaci, dance, the art of diminutions from Ortiz to van Eyck, and extending to the early 17th-century works of Gesualdo and Monteverdi, with particular attention given to the compositions of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina.
In the music derived from vocal sources, utmost emphasis has been placed on the text, which, although obviously not present, has suggested the meter and articulation of each line, from the shortest motifs to the broader phrase units.
The program is set to be released on CD by Aulicus Classics in January 2025.