Chiaroscuro
Music in meantone temperament from 17th century Italy and 21st century Finland
Bertali – Frescobaldi – Henriksson – Knif – Marini – Pandolfi Mealli – Rossi – Talvitie – Virtaperko
FiBO Players:
Marianna Henriksson, harpsichord
Anne Pekkala, violin
The concert programme features keyboard toccatas from 17th century Italy and new harpsichord works with toccata-like structures. The toccatas by Girolamo Frescobaldi and Michelangelo Rossi are like instrumental recitatives, emotional speech on the harpsichord. The music of that time tried to influence all of the listener, moving the bodily fluids, vibrating the inner organs and stirring the spirit.
The meantone temperament creates a common soundscape for new and old music alike. The tuning system has eight pure thirds. The works for harpsichord by Jonte Knif, Riikka Talvitie and Olli Virtaperko utilize not only their lush sounds but also the blatantly “out of tune” wolf intervals that are an inevitable result of the system. The stark contrasts between the tones in tune and out of tune in the meantone temperament are like the strong contrast between light and dark in a chiaroscuro painting.
The program is augmented by violin sonatas from the early Baroque: the works for solo violin and continuo by Biagio Marini and Giovanni Antonio Pandolfi Mealli are also built of contrasting parts and contain surprising twists.
Part of the concert program was featured in Marianna Henriksson’s last post-graduate concert in the Music Centre in February 2023.
Duration: 1 h (no intermission)