Discography

Nadine Balbeisi

Discography

15th Century Song and the Bowed Vihuela

Cantar alla Viola

Nadine Balbeisi – soprano

Fernando Marín – bowed vihuelas

Label – Davinci Classics

This CD displays the 15th century Song throughout Europe. It encompasses French chançons, Franco-flemish and German polyphony and some of the finest Spanish motets, canciones and villancicos, consisting of three-voice pieces, of which each voice appears in manuscripts written separately. Simple and sweet melodies, used to highlight grand poetry, are intricately woven together creating beautiful miniature polyphonic masterpieces. Most of the tracks on the album are dedicated to Francisco de Peñalosa (1470-1528), one of the most famous Spanish composers of his time, known best for his masses and motets yet an excellent composer of secular songs.

“There are plenty of reasons to recommend the new Cantar alla viola album. On the one hand, it offers an excellent approach to the music that was performed at the dawn of the European Renaissance. In addition, it allows knowing the possibilities posed by the conjunction of the voice and the strings of the vihuela. But, above all, it treats the ear to the restrained and calm beauty of timeless music.” – Pablo Rodríguez Canfranc, Catalunya Press

Da Vinci Publishing

Segreti Accenti- Italian Renaissance Music

Nominated for International Classical Music wards

Cantar alla Viola

Nadine Balbeisi- Soprano

Fernando Marin- Viella, Vihuelas de arco, Viola da gamba

This CD is dedicated to one of the most esteemed musical practices of the Renaissance: the art of accompanying the voice with the viola da gamba. Cantare alla viola (singing with a viol) is the name for this practice which was quite common at the time. Even Baldassare Castiglione, in his The Book of the Courtier, (Venice, 1528), points out that among all musical practices, the best and most suitable for a perfect courtier was indeed cantare alla viola. He goes on to explain that it makes it possible to appreciate “all the sweetness” that is found in the solo voice. One singer can give more attention to the “fine manner and the melody” as well as offer a certain “grace” to the words that is not possible with many singers.

Label: Quartz

De rio a Rio – Viola da Samba

Nadine Balbeisi – soprano

Fernando Marín – viola da gamba

Jean Kleeb – clavichord

Viola da Samba, (a wordplay on samba being played on a viola da gamba), is a project creating a bridge between Renaissance and Brazilian popular music. The pure, light sounds of early music instruments blend with the vivacious rhythms and rich harmonies of samba and bossa nova. The subtle timbres and the versatile sounds of the clavichord together with the viola da gamba match perfectly with the spirit of Brazilian music, revealing the connection between the elements (scales, rhythms and temperaments) of popular and early music. The natural gut strings of the viol create a pure and organic sound. This offers a new experience for the world of jazz and bossa. Altogether, Nadine Balbeisi’s delicate and refined voice, Jean Kleeb’s mastery of playing bossa chords on the clavichord and Fernando Marín’s skillful bowing of the viola da gamba create a perfect musical symbiosis.

Label: Quartz

Missa Brasileira, Jean Kleeb-Latin Mass for choir SATB, soprano solo, cello, percussion and band

Nadine Balbeisi – soprano

Fernando Marín – viola da gamba and cello

Martin Rixen – piano

Frank Höfliger – Double bass

Angela Frontera – Brazilian percussion and drum set

Jean Kleeb – harpsichord, piano and director

The liturgical Mass text of Missa Brasileira is set to typical Brazilian rhythms and styles and builds a bridge between European spiritual choral music and the rhythmic intensity of South America. The blending of harmonies of the Renaissance and Early Baroque with the melodies and rhythms of Indian and Afro-Brazilian music is audible. In addition, popular styles like bossa nova, samba and baião are integrated within sacred choral music.

Helbing Verlag

EACH LOVELY GRACE - William Corkine: The Second Book of Ayres (1612)

RELIQUIE DI ROMA I: Lamentarium Eternal lamenting, extravagant repenting, religious ecstasy… passionate, sensual, macabre and erotic narratives from 17th-century Rome

The Vihuela de arco in the reign of Aragon from the XIV-XVI Centuries

Cantar alla Viola

Nadine Balbeisi, soprano

Fernando Marín, vihuela de arco

The Vihuela de Arco (Bowed Vihuela) created a foundation of musical achievement present in the majority of the artistic manifestations of one of the most illustrious periods in the history of Spain, known as the “Siglo de Oro” or the “Golden Age,” and its music accompanied notable personages as the Archpriest of Hita and Miguel de Cervantes. It is the musical instrument, which most likely, best represented the Reign of Aragón and is considered the ancestor of almost all European chordophones.

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Robert Jones: The Second Booke of Songs and Ayres (1601) Cantar alla Viola

Cantar alla Viola

Nadine Balbeisi: soprano

Fernando Marín: lyra-viol

The Second Booke of Songs and Ayres (1601) by Robert Jones is a collection of 21 songs “set out to the Lute and Bass Viol the plain way, or the Bass by tablature after the lyre fashion.” The manuscript includes a part for lyra-viol in bass tablature to accompany one voice, which is the version we have chosen for this interpretation. Owing to the mixed scordatura (different tunings of the open strings) and the sympathetic strings, the lyra-viol accompanies and carries the voice well and sustains the polyphony like an organ. Thus is the polyphony preserved in its complete harmony and magnificence while enabling the beautiful Elizabethan poetry to become the protagonist in this marvelous renaissance portrait.

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