Rolf Lislevand Ensemble
abbey church
at 4.00 PM
The reinvention of early and baroque music is also one of the themes of lutenist Rolf Lislevand, whose Nouve musiche project is presented in the church of the Leffe Abbey on Saturday, September 30. A Norwegian who studied in Switzerland, lives in Italy, teaches in Germany and leads a band featuring Spaniards (the Norwegian component being boosted by Terje Rypdal’s old bassist Bjorn Kjellemyr), Lislevand is a natural polymath and polyglot who started his career as a jazz guitarist. Today he plays archlute, baroque guitar and theorboe, in his own emancipated way: “For years people tried to play early music as closely as possible to the way it was played at its time of origin”, Lislevand explains “But that’s a philosophical self-contradiction. The first question is whether it’s possible to replicate the performance of a musician who lived centuries ago...” Quite radically, Lislevand is “waving goodbye once and for all to early music’s authenticity creed.” His vibrant re-castings of baroque music sometimes veer into episodes reminiscent of Celtic music or flamenco, as he opens up the material. Lislevand has had a long association with the great Catalan viola da gamba player Jordi Savall, and Savall’s daughter Arianna plays triple harp and sings with the Lislevand Ensemble. Another frequent Savall associate, percussionist Pedro Estevan, contributes deftly minimalist hand drums. Overall the engaging effect is of an early music ‘jam band’, that allows centuries old music to breathe newly.
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[updated on the 26.06.06]
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Canonical life
Those who embark on the canonical life must give up personal possessions and seek the brotherly life, but, unlike monks, they do not withdraw from the world. (read more)
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