Luogo e data di registrazione		Burg Konradsheim, Konradsheim (Germania) - 1-4 ottobre 1975
	Registrazione: live / studio		studio
	Producer / Engineer		Gerd Berg / Johann-Nikolaus Matthes
	Prima Edizione LP		EMI Electrola "Reflexe" - 1C 063-30 128 Q - (1 lp) - durata 43' 28" - (p) 1976 - Analogico (Quadraphonic)
	Prima Edizione CD		EMI "Classics" - CDM 7 63437 2 - (1 cd) - durata 43' 28" - (c) 1991 - ADD
	Edizione CD		EMI "Classics" - 8 26496 2 - (1 cd) - durata 43' 28" - (c) 2000 - ADD
	Note		La prima edizione in CD contiene madrigali di Gesualdo e Monteverdi registrati nel 1974 e pubblicati nel 1975 (estranei alla collana Reflexe).

In the days when the only way of getting to and from the Beaver Republic of Venice was by water, the favourite route was the one linking Venice and Padua. Thanks to the scenic charm of the journey, but also to the original company that could be found amongst the passengers, the trip on the burchiello became a remarkable experience, of which a number of accounts were written inthe course of the centuries. It is therefore likely that this experience also inspired Pater Adriano Banchieri, a monk of Monte Oliveto (near Bologna), to render it in music when he went to Venice in 1605 to take on the post of organist for a short period at the Convent of St Helena. An important musician, theorist and writer, Banchieri was born at Bologna on 3rd September 1568. His real name was Tommaso: Adriano was the name he adopted on entering his order, which he did at the age of 19. After receiving instruction in music since childhood, he became a pupil of the highly regarded Gioseffo Guami at Lucca, probably in 1592 or 1593. After organist’s posts at Imola, Gubbio, Venice and Verona, he finally returned to his home town in 1606. There he associated with many distinguished musicians and was the focus of a circle which formed itself into two Academies, one after the other; until 1628, Banchieri was the Principal of the second. Hampered in his work by failing eyesight during the last years of his life, Banchieri died of a stroke at Bologna in 1634. The Barca di Venetia per Padova first appeared in Venice in 1605, but this version is only incompletely preserved. The revision published in 1623 has considerable differences from the first edition. Where the overall disposition is concerned, the first eight and the last two numbers stay where they were. Between them there were originally two separate scenes, which were dovetailed together in the second version: first, five consecutive madrigals, and then the Rizzolina episode. The madrigals were reduced to four, of which only two were from the first edition and even they were rearranged. The Rizzolina episode, on the other hand, was arnplified somewhat. In addition, far-reaching textual and musical alterations were made to the various pieces. The gift for acute observation and characterisation, and for formulating them in elegant or barbed terms, which marks the wit of the Italian Renaissance, is also typical of the humorous works of Adriano Banchieri to a high degree. However vivid or, as quite often drastic the depiction of the characters and  action may be, the musical treatment is always given its full value. The Umore, who calls upon both actors and public alike (I), is often quoted as an example of this. As with nearly all the figures who appear in such works, the depiction of Umore is not tied to a particular voice: the whole company sings his words, every phrase (and also individual ideas) being given its own motif in the traditional manner according to what the words express. The description of the fishermen and oarsmen on the Venetian shore (II) is a fine example of the aforementioned balance between vivid illustration and formal control: the three parts (the first is repeated after the second) are written above the cry of the fishermen (Ostreghe da bruazzo, etc) which is sung three times unchanged as a cantus firmus. Amid the cries of the crew, the Patrono takes leave of his Ninetta (III), with the madrigalesque emotionalism of the lover’s complaint in caricaturing contrast to the setting. The joyful conclusion in triple time is the signal for the company to set off. The Patrono eggs on the passengers to pass the time with  amusements (IV); the nasal syllables here and elsewhere (e.g. ba - nanana - rca) are probably a caricature of a particular manner of singing, and maybe of the Venetian dialect as well. Then a bookseller from Florence proposes (V) that tive singers - the normal contingent for the vocal chamber music of that day - volunteer to perform alcune cappricciate del Banchieri. A singing teacher from Lucca (possibly a reminiscence of Banchieri’s period of study there) seconds the proposal (VI), chiming in with the solfeggio scales that were always the attribute of singers until well into the 19th century. The five singers are got together (VII) - four Italians from various regions, and a German capable of broken Italian. One after another they introduce themselves, each in his own dialect and with his own manner of singing. The witty juxtaposition of dialects had been a set custom since the 14th century, and the picture of the tippling Northerner was also part of the permanent repertoire. The following number (VIII), like No II, is written above the cantus tirmus (repeated four times) of the quaffing German, who begins and ends it by himself, lurching along as it were musically too. Two seriously meant madrigals follow (IX-X) in the style of Carlo Gesualdo da Venosa; later on, others in the manner of Luca Marenzio (XIV) and Donato Antonio Spano (IV), a Neapolitan contemporary of Banchieri. Yet another piece is modelled on Enrico Radesca, of Turin. How these allusions are to be understood, however, is hard to explain satisfactorily. They can scarcely be intended as superficial imitations, still less as parodies, as one would then expect hard chromatic progressions in the case of Gesualdo, an opening with accentuated exclamation in the case of Marenzio, and so on. At all events, Banchieri employs the madrigal style of his day, with much use of the diminished fourths generally associated with lovers’ complaints (already parodied in No III) and with texts partly by the popular Giovanni Battista Guarini. The madrigal scene is interrupted and then submerged by the merry goings-on centring on the fair Rizzolina. The first ot these scenes (XI-XIII) is held together by the balletto retrain Fa-la-la or La-trai-nai-nai. Rizzolina is presented first on her own, as a kind of precentor answered by the chorus (in the manner of the French airs de cour); then with her lover Orazio in a duet for upper and lower voices. A Jewish couple who have come aboard say their prayers, singing the Hebrew texts (which are in part only suggested in sound) in canon, while the tenor keeps repeating the vvord la sinagoga as a kind of cantus firmus. The second Rizzolina scene begins (XVI-XVII) with eight verses of a song, of which four are sung by Rizzolina and four by Orazio, while the remaining four voices (the soloist who is not at the moment acting as precentor sings the uppermost part) imitate the lute accompaniment with onomatopoeic syllables. When, finally, a string breaks, the “lute” accompaniment in the next piece (XVIII) is reduced to three voices, as the two soloists sing four more verses (each sings the same one twice), again in canon. Arrival, payment of the fare, and disembarkation, are rounded off (XIX) with the balletto refrain (already familiar from Nos XI and XIII), which also concludes the actual voyage. The Epilogue, with the begging of the fake soldier (XX), may allude to actual events, as many Italians served in the Emperors campaigns against the Turks. Theophil Antonicek (Translation: David Potter)
EMI Electrola "Reflexe"