FANTASIES, SONGS, AND DANCES: Music from 16th-century Poland

Lutenist Michał Gondko and harpsichordist Corina Marti perform music from 15th & 16th century Poland—a period considered to be Poland’s cultural “Golden Age” when it burst onto the scene of European politics and, supported by economic prosperity, saw its cultural dimension expand, bringing in humanist ideals and cultural trends imported from Italy, Germany, and Flanders. Poland’s music broke from medieval models, alongside a wealth of European music to which Polish scribes and musicians had access during the mid-1500s, as witnessed by the Lublin keyboard collection containing everything from improvisatory forms, to arrangements of sacred and secular vocal music, as well as dances. All of these manuscripts show an early vogue for “Polish songs and dances” which soon after was to spread across Europe: a much more widely-distributed, though harder to pinpoint, musical “Polishness” well before Chopin.

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Michał Gondko One of the leading lutenists of his generation, he pursues his artistic goals as a soloist, musical director and accompanist, being particularly fascinated with the European polyphonic art music of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Evocative musicianship and exploratory concert programmes are widely recognised trademarks of his work. Michal is founder and, together with Corina Marti, artistic director of La Morra, an early music ensemble widely recognised for its concerts and recordings of the Late Medieval and early Renaissance music. Under their joint leadership La Morra has earned such marks of musical distinction as the Diapason d’Or, the Jahrespreis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik, the American Musicological Society’s Noah Greenberg Award, Gramophone and International Classical Music Award nominations, and the constantly high ratings in the international music press. Find out more about La Morra here. He has also shared the stage in chamber music projects with such musicians as Dame Emma Kirkby, Montserrat Figueras and Jordi Savall. More recent collaborations include a duo partnership with the eminent lutenist Nigel North. His musical path began in his hometown Warsaw, where he studied classical guitar – for which he will always have a soft spot – at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music before moving to Basel (where he has since lived) in order to dedicate himself exclusively to the lute. He subsequently graduated from the acclaimed Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, where he studied with Hopkinson Smith. Concert tours have since taken him to the most European countries, as well as to the USA, the countries of the Middle East, China and Japan.

www.michalgondko.info

Harpsichord and recorder player Corina Marti is internationally recognized for her ‘strikingly superior’ and ‘expressive’ (Toccata) interpretations, and ‘infallible’ (Diapason) technique. Her extensive discography of repertoire ranges from the fourteenth-century istanpitte and intabulations to – and beyond – the chamber music and solo concertos of the High Baroque and reflects the breadth of her musical interests and technical skills. She leads a full life as a soloist, chamber musician and teacher, travelling regularly across Europe, both Americas, and the Middle and Far East. She has appeared with numerous early music ensembles and orchestras (including Hespèrion XXI, Coro della Radiotelevisione Svizzera Italiana and Helsinki Baroque Orchestra) and is artistic co-director and founding member of La Morra, an award-winning Late Medieval and Early Renaissance music ensemble which ‘never fails to keep the listener’s attention alive’ (Gramophone). Her ongoing research into aspects of the repertoire and reconstruction of late-medieval and early-renaissance keyboard instruments and recorders has contributed substantially to the present-day revival of these instruments. She teaches the next generation of early music performers at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, Switzerland, and in masterclasses worldwide.

www.corinamarti.info (Photos credit: Dirk Letsch)