Sorbello, Enrico
Ostinato! Alla Bastarda, Chaconnes, Passacaglias, And S
"Chaconnes" and Passacaglias are similar musical genres of the Baroque era, which share the same general principle: they are constituted by variations on a bass line, which produces a harmonic texture. The albums program, featuring Baroque works transcribed for unaccompanied cello, revolves around two interwoven musical practices that blossomed in early modern Europe: the basso ostinato and the viola bastarda. These concepts, nurtured across Italian, French, German, and Spanish traditions, illuminate how Renaissance and Baroque musicians balanced fixed structures with improvisatory freedom. Parallel to the bass-driven impulse of the ostinato, the viola bastarda tradition exemplifies the eras inventive fusion of composition, transcription, and virtuosityThe term viola bastarda refers both to a type of bass viol and to a daring style of playing that was celebrated as a crowning achievement of musical Mannerism. By embracing both the obstinate and the inventive, this album situates the cello in its dual role as singer and continuo, reviving a centuries-old freedom to roam across registers, traditions, and borders while remaining forever tethered to the ground.