In the summer issue of Fanfare Magazine, Professor of Music David Dolata and his early music ensemble, Il Furioso, had their recent CD Libro secondo d’arie reviewed by fellow musicologist Bertil van Boer. He boldly states that “this is one recording that anyone interested in Roman music of the early 17th century must have. It is a sensitive, resonant, and effective collection that demonstrates the musical genius of the composer.” The composer of the piece, Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger (1580-1651), was considered one of the most innovative and original composers in early seventeenth-century Rome, and a virtuoso on the lute and chitarrone (or theorbo).
As an international collaboration of musicians, Il Furioso specializes in early Italian Baroque music for virtuoso voices, lutes and harpsichord; pieces that have been rediscovered and resurrected through the research of Il Furioso lutenists and musicologists David Dolata and Victor Coelho. Il Furioso’s recording of Kapsberger’s Libro secondo d’arie (Rome, 1623) for Toccata Classics was praised by Goldberg Magazine as a “polished and pleasurable recording” with “first-class singing.” Early Music America states that Il Furioso’s second disc Battaglia d’amore dedicated to the music of Bellerofonte Castaldi “is an excellent introduction of a long-lost Italian artistic genius and a highly polished project worthy of your attention.”
Fans of early music will be delighted to know that on Monday, November 18, 2013, at 7:30pm in the Herbert and Nicole Wertheim Performing Arts Center, FIU’s Collegium Musicum, the School’s only early music ensemble, will perform a joint concert with the Palm Beach Atlantic Collegium Musicum for an evening of “Concerted Sacred Music from Moravia.” Be sure to check the events calendar in August for ticket information at www.music.fiu.edu/events.
To read the full review on Fanfare Magazine, click here. For more information on David Dolata and for more reviews of “Il Furioso”, click here. To listen to MP3 downloads and streaming samples on Toccata Classics, click here.
