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JOSQUIN DESPREZ – ‘AVE MARIA’ for countertenor and string quartet

Year of composition : 2013

 

This arrangement was part of a project I conceived for the ESTOVEST Festival 2013, of which I was the artistic coordinator, dedicated to the confrontation of very distant music ages not only from the aesthetic point of view but, and above all, to put side to side the different perceptions of the reality of the world and of the man. I made arrangements of a choice of chansons and motets by ancient masters as Jeannot de L’Escurel, Gilles Binchois, Guillaume de Machaut and Josquin des Prez for the eminent countertenor David James of the Hilliard Ensemble and the strings of the Xenia Ensemble; they were put beside works of contemporary composers as György Kurtág, Gavin Bryars and Arvo Pärt through a shocking contrast; all of them are in connection to the language of the past but contextualized in our times and, thus, taking a totally different meaning. The concert took place in the evocative frame of the statuary of the Aegyptian Museum of Turin.

 

 

 

  • Countertenor
  • String quartet