Bruno Helstroffer - Calling the Muse (2018) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

Bruno Helstroffer writes of his new release: Its a logbook, the one Ive never really kept. My years of blues/rock and early music mingle here; the thousands of kilometers travelled with that theorbo of mine, the cities and the countryside, the railways, the skies, the scents, the lights; but above all, the music of the people. Partite variate sopra questaria francese detta lalemana is a tablature by Piccinini of an aria also called La Monica. In North America in the late nineteenth century, railroad hoboes carved their vagabond pseudonym along the tracks, which they called their moniker Corrente VI sopra lalemana, by the same composer, is the energetic counterpart to the noble and meditative allemande. Like a Belfry is taken from a dream… Rosemary Standley has set her words to the melody and sings them. J. H. Kapsbergers Toccata nona is associated here with Perivoli Blue. Perivoli is a village in the south of the island of Corfu. Thanks Toumani expresses my fascination with Mandingo music. Bellerofonte Castaldis Arpeggiata a mio modo was one of my first challenges on the theorbo. Erik Saties Gnossienne no.1 arrived under my fingers without warning and made a place for itself here by fitting in so naturally that I couldnt say no to it. This is the piece chosen by my photographer friend Richard Dumas to make the video clip of the album. With Kapsbergers Bergamasca, a dance from Bergamo in Italy, the theorbo becomes a festive and agile instrument. A Tea with Bach is an arrangement of the Minuet from Bachs Cello Suite no.1. The Toccata Undicesima serves as the introduction to an improvisation: Vos luths. And invokes India.

Tracklist:
01. Partite variate sopra quest’aria francese detta l’alemana
02. Corrente VI sopra l’alemana
03. Comme un beffroi
04. Toccata nona
05. Perivoli Blue
06. Thanks Toumani
07. Arpeggiata a mio modo
08. Gnossienne No. 1
09. Bergamasca
10. Dans la chambre de mon théorbe
11. Clan
12. A Tea with Bach
13. Toccata undicessima
14. Vos luths

Personnel:
Bruno Helstroffer, theorbo
Rosemary Standley, voice
Jean-Luc Debattice, narrator
Michel Godard, serpent
Emek Evci, double bass