Compagnia Strumentale Tre Violini

Matuzine

(CD/LP/MC)

1) Suite: Matuzine/Vilota/Saltin 2) Ballo dal curioso accidente/La pollacina 3) Bal frances/Moleta 4) Spagnoletto/Bergamasco 5) Mazurca di Zavattarello/Valzer del mandriano 6) Pairis/La primavera 7) Resiane: Ta ucjarska/Ta mydwedava 8) Va per tera/Giga 9) Scotìs 10) Sunade di Nearies/Polca dell'Acquacalda 11) Calisson/Contradanza Total time: 45:22

Musicians

Bernardo Falconi: violin
Giuliano Grasso: violin, viola
Giulio Venier: violin, bassoctave violin
Maurizio Viola: guitars
Roberto Cistellini: three-stringed small bass, double bass

Matuzine/Vilota/Saltin
A set of tunes sampling the repertory of fiddle groups from both western and eastern Alps: two Matuzine from Val Vigezzo (No) start off this selection, next come two dances collected among the Italian communities in Istria (YU).

Ballo dal curioso accidente/La Pollacina
In 1819, the region of Trento was a province of the Austrian Empire; both these fine melodies were collected with the help of the Austrian Goverment during a research into the imperial musical inheritance.

Bal frances/Moleta
A couple of dances from the beautiful carnival of Bagolino and Ponte Caffaro (Bs), two little villages in the Lombard Alps where local fiddle bands have preserved since hundreds of years a very interesting repertory of ritual tunes. 

Spagnoletto/Bergamasco
These fiddle tunes have been widely spread in Italy since the Reinassance; orally transmitted, they are still played nowadays in the Emilian Apennine area retaining the primitive name and melody.     

Mazurca di Zavattarello/Valzer del mandriano
Two dances in the old mountain fiddle style of "ballo liscio", introduced in Italy from the beginning of the 19th century. They both come from the region of Lombardy: the first is from the Apennines, the second is from the Alps.     

Pairis/Primavera
The Pairis is a couple dance from the Belluno province; we found the Primavera in a book published in 1915 containing short notices about some 19th century fiddlers living in the Emilian Apennine.    

Resiane: Ta Ucjarska/Ta mydvedawa
The Resian community, living in the north-east of Friuli, retains an ancient musical tradition based on the ossessive sound of archaic fiddle and cello. We learned both these tunes from the playing of the late "Giuankala": the first is named after the village of Uccea, the second is "the bear dance".    

Va per tera/Giga
Va per tera has been collected at the end of the last century in the mountains south of Bologna; we learned the Giga from the playng of Mr. Melchiade Benni, an 88 years old fiddler still active in the same area, to whom we owe a great amount of our repertory.     

Scotìs
This three-part Scottish comes from the fiddle group of Ponte Caffaro, whose repertory also includes some fine dances not expecially played at carnival.    

Sunade di Nearies/Polca dell'Acquacalda 
Two exciting polkas switching keys several time. The first is from Carnia (Friuli); we learned the second one once again from the playng of Melchiade Benni who heard it first from a local fiddle band of the twenties.    

Calisson/Contradanza
We got both these melodies from an unpublished manuscript, written in Fossano (Piedmont) in the early XIXth century, containing over 200 dances arranged for two fiddles.  

the record is produced by Associazione culturale Barabàn

  All the scores are printed in: B. Falconi/G. Grasso/G. Venier, How to play Italian Fiddle