Ricercare for the Sky

Deep in its heart, it is all about a search for poetic, and musical, truth. On our next Pipedreams program, we investigate the tradition of the Ricercare, one of the earliest forms of Baroque instrumental music. Our examples take us back to the mid 16th century and feature an instrument even one hundred years older, at a Basilica in Bologna.

Simple themes develop and interweave in phrases both rhapsodic and rigorous. Beyond the fertile Italian homeland, we visit churches in Stockholm, San Francisco, and the Netherlands for performances by John Weaver, Massimo Nosetti, Liuwe Tamminga, and Jean Guillou of works by Bach and Frescobaldi, and Menotti. Ancient and eloquent, our ears follow it heavenward. Ricercare for the Sky the ancient art of counterpoint, this week on Pipedreams.

Listen to the program

Program Broadcast dates:

• October 22, 2001

Music played in the program

ADRIAN WILLAERT: Ricercare I. HIERONIMO PARABOSCO: Ricercare XXI. GUILIELMO GOLIN: Ricecare XVII, from Musica Nova [1540] –Liuwe Tamminga (1475 da Prato/Basilica di San Petronio, Bologna, Italy) Tactus CD-540001

ANDREA GABRIELI: Ricercar arioso –Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini (1475 da Prato/Basilica di San Petronio, Bologna, Italy) Tactus CD-510001

GIROLAMO FRESCOBALDI: Ricercare cromatico post il Credo.

GYÖRGY LIGETI: Ricercare per Organo –Hans-Ola Ericsson (1984 Kjersgaard/Högalid’s Church, Stockholm, Sweden) BIS-CD-509

ANNIBALE PADOVANO: Toccata e Ricercar del 6th tono –Liuwe Tamminga (1475 da Prato/Basilica di San Petronio, Bologna, Italy) Accent CD-97127

GIAN CARLO MENOTTI: Ricercare [1984] –John Weaver (1934 Aeolian-Skinner/Grace Episcopal Cathedral, San Francisco, CA) Pipedreams PD 1001

J.S. BACH: Ricercare, from The Musical Offering, S. 1079 –Jean Guillou (1738 Müller/Sint-Bavokerk [St. Bavo Church], Haarlem, The Netherlands) Festivo LP-507

MARC ANTONIO CAVAZZONI: Ricercata. GIULIO SEGNI: Ricercar –Liuwe Tamminga (1475 da Prato/Basilica di San Petronio, Bologna, Italy) Lyrichord CD-8037

JACOPO FOGLIANO: Two Ricercatas –Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini (1475 da Prato/Basilica di San Petronio, Bologna, Italy) Tactus CD-460001

ETTORE DESDERI: Ricercare a Capriccio –Massimo Nosetti (1990 Zanin/Santuario di Santa Rita, Turin, Italy) Syrius CD-141314