Lutz Kirchhof ~ Lute Music for Witches and Alchemists

The time the music on 'Lute Music for Witches and Alchemists' was written was one of mysticism and wonder. The era of alchemists and witches tapped into the dark recesses of human understanding, during a time before scientific inquiry and rationalism. The dances, preludes and fantasias on this recording were intended to appeal to this older sensibility more than a rational or analytical one.

Lutz Kirchhof plays lute, vihuela and theorbo on this eclectic program of music from the renaissance and baroque. Each section of the recording is comprised of music inspired by witches with powers to heal and alchemists who quested for hidden knowledge. Kirchhof's choice of repertoire is eclectic. He plays Anthony Holborne's "The Fairy Round" with a jaunty swagger that's irresistible. The "Tarantella" by Athanasius Kircher is equally colorful, it's a musical remedy against the venomous bite of the tarantula. Kirchhof also plays with melancholy eloquence on the gentle "Fantasia" by Luys de Milan. The lutenist also displays some exuberant flair in Nicolas Vallet's "Battaille." This is a fascinating recording that resurrects some treasures from the lute repertoire framed in a clever programming concept.
Includes fantasia(s) by Luis de Milan, Luis de Narváez. Soloist: Lutz Kirchhof.

tracks

01. Fairy Rownde for lute

02. Courante 1, for lute

03. Courante 2, for lute

04. Volte, for lute

05. Le secret des muses, lute book (2nd ed. of Secretum musarum): Battaille

06. Noctes Musicae, for lute: Chorea 1

07. Tarantella, for lute

08. Work(s): Unspecified Fantasia, for lute

09. Cancion del emperador, for vihuela

10. Baxa de contrapunto

11. Cancion in the 1st tone, after Nicolaus Gombert's Canzon, for lute

12. Diferencias (7) for guitar on 'Guárdame las vacas'

13. Muy Linda, for viol consort

14. Suite for lute in A minor

15. Suite for lute in A minor

16. Suite for lute in A minor

17. Suite for lute in A minor

18. Suite for lute in A minor

19. Suite for lute in D minor

20. Suite for lute in D minor

21. Suite for lute in D minor

22. Suite for lute in D minor

23. Suite for lute in D minor

24. Atalanta Fugiens, for 3 voices & lute: Fuga X

25. Sonata for lute in C minor

26. Sonata for lute in C minor

27. Sonata for lute in C minor

28. Galanterie piesse, for lute in F minor (Moscow MS), Smith 452

29. Work(s): Unspecified Presto in B flat major (Smith 454)

30. Variations on 'Nun sich der Tag geendet hat', for lute