Fontagera / Various Fontagera / Various CD

The present recording attempts to provide musical illustrations of elements from Ganassi's treatise on ornamentation Fontegara, published in Venice in 1535. This work was intended for his wealthy aristocratic pupils, and a priori it does not reflect only his personal practice. This versatile musician's professional career consisted essentially in directing and playing the bombarde with his ensemble in the service of a number of doges and scuole. He also performed in the ridotti, the circles in which humanists and cultured nobles met. It is this refined art that William Dongois and his musicians propose to revive here, drawing on a very rich repertory of dances, songs and madrigals. An ensemble that can vary from two to ten players according to the works being performed, the Concert Brise is made up of musicians who share a common approach to music and to it's connection to historical sources. These links form one of the two reference points of the ensemble's interpretations, the other being the use of techniques of improvisation that have been taken from treatises of the period and also from jazz and from folk music. The musicians of the Concert Brise hope to communicate the pleasure that they experience in playing this music to their audiences, whilst at the same time they take the risk of introducing improvisation when it is required. At such a moment they must let themselves be guided by inspiration and, if necessary, allow a strict observation of the score to fade somewhat into the background.