La pazza Ferri-Benedetti & Il Profondo

• 1S'io son pazzo03:15
• 2Le musiche, Libro terzo a una e due voci: Tutto il dì piango03:07
• Giovanni Maria Trabaci (1575-1647):
• 3Ricercate, canzone franzese, Libro primo: Consonanze Stravaganti02:40
• Anonymous:
• 4La pazzia12:42
• Anonymous:
• 5Romanesca02:07
• Barbara Strozzi (1619-1677):
• 6Cantate, ariette, e duetti, Op. 2: L'eraclito amoroso06:28
• Anonymous:
• 7Romanesca02:11
• Francesca Caccini (1587 - 1641):
• 8Il primo libro delle musiche: Lasciatemi qui solo06:29
• 9Romanesca01:47
• Barbara Strozzi (1619 - 1677):
• 10Arie, Op. 8: È pazzo il mio core05:35
• Gioanpietro del Buono (? - ca.1657):
• 11Canoni, oblighi, et sonate: LXXVII. Obligo di dui Zoppi, e dui Ciechi02:35
• Benedetto Ferrari (1604 - 1681):
• 12Musiche varie: Occhi miei04:29
• Giovanni Maria Trabaci (1575 -1647):
• 13Ricercate, canzone franzese, Libro primo: Durezze e ligature02:08
• Claudio Monteverdi (15657 - 1643):
• 14Scherzi musicali: Ciaccona. Voglio di vita uscir05:56
• Total Runtime01:01:29

Info for La pazza

'La Pazza' (Italian for mad, insane) is the title of the new album of the Basso Continuo ensemble Il Profondo and Flavio Ferri-Benedetti (Countertenor). The name is the programme: the Italian seventeenth-century pieces, composed by Monteverdi, Ferrari, Strozzi, Francesca Caccini, D'India, Trabaci and Del Buono, circle around the theme of madness and insanity: amour fou, death-wish, religious ecstacy, utter ridiculousness and pathological insanity. The piece that stands at the heart of the album, “La Pazzia” (anonymous), is a world premiere, discovered and transcribed by the performers themselves.

Not only the musical text that is mad, but also the instrumentation is exotic. Il Profondo deploys nine Continuo players who play on twelve instruments, such as colascione, baroque mandolin and cimbalo cromatico (enharmonic harpsichord with split keys). Each piece has different instrumentation, rending each piece its own character: from the intimate moment, in which the singer only needs a lute, to the big polychoral effect with viola da gamba consort, lute consort and harpsichord.

Flavio Ferri-Benedetti and Il Profondo has collaborated in 2012 for the CD 'Passo di pena in pena', released by a Spanish record company Cantus. It has received extremely good reviews, as well as five Diapasons.

Flavio Ferri-Benedetti, counter-tenor
Il Profondo:
Johannes Keller, harpsichord
Masako Art, harp
Amélie Chemin, viola da gamba
Sophie Lamberbourg, viola da gamba
Jonathan Pešek, viola da gamba
Federico Abraham, violon
Daniele Caminiti, theorbo, archlute
Josías Rodríguez Gándara, archlute, baroque guitar
Mirko Arnone, baroque mandolin, archlute, colascione

Flavio Ferri-Benedetti
was born in Scandiano (Italy) in 1983. After moving to Spain with his parents at the age of eleven, Flavio received his Classical Abitur with honours at the age of 17. In 2004 he obtained a Piano Diploma at the Conservatorio Mestre Goterris in Vila-real (Spain) with full marks. In 2005 he received his MA degree in Translation Studies at the Universitat Jaume I in Castellón de la Plana and he is now completing a PhD in Literature at the Universitat de València with a thesis focusing on Classical Tradition and Metastasio.

In March 2006, Flavio was awarded the Premio Velluti in castrato Velluti’s birthtown (Corridonia, Italia) — as young promising countertenor. Thereafter, he was admitted in June 2006 to begin his vocal studies at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel (Switzerland) with Prof. Gerd Türk. In 2008 he obtained his Bachelor of Arts in Voice (Early Music) with Distinction — later obtaining the Master of Arts in 2010, also with Distinction. At the Schola Cantorum he also received lessons from Andreas Scholl, Rosa Domínguez, Evelyn Tubb/Anthony Rooley and Ulrich Messthaler. He is being currently coached by Prof. Lina Maria Åkerlund.

He has appeared in concerts and recitals in Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, France and England since 2000 as an alto soloist, with a repertoire ranging from medieval to romantic music.

He had his operatic debut in 2007 with Stradella’s Il Barcheggio (Basel) under Dir. Daniela Dolci. In 2009, he received a nomination on OPERNWELT as a revelation artist for his performance in Scarlatti’s Penelope la Casta (Basel). In 2009, Flavio also received the 3rd Prize at the International Sacred Music Competition in Rome. In May 2010, he debuted at Theater Basel as Linfea, in Francesco Cavalli’s Calisto, under Andrea Marcon. For this performance he received again a nomination as revelation artist on OPERNWELT. Since this debut, he has appeared in operas at the Prinzregententheater (Munich 2011), Oper Frankfurt (2011), Opéra Royal de Versailles (2012), Opéra de Nice (2012), Liederhalle Stuttgart (2012) Ópera de Oviedo (2012) in works by Cavalli, Scarlatti, Hasse, Händel and Brescianello — under the musical and stage direction of Michael Hofstetter, Gilbert Bezzina, Gilbert Blin, Jörg Halubek, Benjamin Bayl, Marianne Clement, Jan Bosse, Balazs Kovalik, Christian Curnyn... Flavio also performs often in Lieder recitals and sacred music/oratorio (under the direction, among others, of Laurent Gendre, David Bates, Johannes Strobl...)

In 2013 he was semi-finalist at the 50th International Singing Competition “Francisco Viñas” in Barcelona and finalist at the Baroque Opera Competition in Innsbruck.

His solo debut-album was published to big critical acclaim by CANTUS with Ensemble Il Profondo, singing baroque cantatas by Vivaldi, Porpora, Bononcini and Alessandro Scarlatti. Hasse’s Didone Abbandonata (Munich 2011) was released by Naxos in 2013, and other CDs will appear soon — including a new solo album. Moreover, Flavio combines performing with teaching privately, as well as master classes of singing. He gives a course in Italian diction/rhetoric at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis as a guest teacher.

Booklet for La pazza