Mandovivaldi HD by Carlo Aonzo & ensemble il Falcone

The mandolin and violin have very close ties. They are tuned the same way, are or similar size and identical expansion. Being played with a plectrum, the mandolinist adopts phrasing solutions influenced by picking upwards or downwards, just like a violinist with movements up and down the bow.
Even though the most popular repertoire for the mandolin dates back to the nineteenth century, there is significant evidence of its use as far back as the end of the 1500s, becoming fully-fledged in the Baroque era as part of the solo repertoire.
In this CD Carlo Aonzo expresses the full potential of this instrument, playing the virtuoso and impressionist Four Seasons by Vivaldi, showing how the four double strings of the mandolin can sing the adagi with great effectiveness and  impress a sharp sense of rhythm and virtuoso even at great speed. We have taken advantage of the freedom granted by the baroque style, playing the Basso Continuo with different instruments for each season. The guitar was used for the Spring, the lute for Summer, the bassoon for Autumn and the bass flute for Winter.
It’s worthy of mention to specify that the recording was made in the Monastery of Santa Chiara, in Genoa. A place of stunning beauty and amazing acustics, thanks to the acustic vessels finely aed and positioned in the frescoed vault of the seventeenth century.
I wish to thank Michele Mulas, friend and excellent photographer, Stefano Bonvini for his professional skills and friendship and all the members of Il Falcone for their help and willingness, as well as the great passion they have put into this work, as they have always done in those have put together over the last 15years of activity.
This CD has been financed thanks to a campaign of Crowdfunding set up on an international platform cad “Produzione dal Basso”and with the special intervention of JTC Consulting in Genoa.
A note on the recording
Recording was done with a tube  and a tube preamplifier with 192khz 24 bit digital support.

The Ensemble Il Falcone was formed in 2000. The members of the Ensemble had previously actively collaborated with artists and groups specializing in early music among the most prestigious in Europe. The Ensemble was named after the first Genoese public theatre built in 1652. It has held many concerts in Italy and Europe, with a repertoire spanning from the XVII century to the early XIX century, with incursions into contemporary music. In 2006 it was given the prestigious IMAIE award for the interpretation of a program of XVII century Genoese music. “Il Falcone” published various CDs at Dynamic, Callisto, Gallo, antiqua and Silfreed Records. 
In addition to its artistic activity, the Ensemble has been organizing in Genoa for the last eight years the season of concerts “Musica Ricercata”, with theme-based projects, lectures and first modern performances of discovered ancient scores. During the 2006 edition, by kind permission of the Comune di Genova, the Ensemble played N. Paganini’s Guarnieri del Gesù in its original baroque setting, in a program dedicated to concerts for violin by J.S. Bach. Recently the ensemble has made a vinyl with the participation of the violinist Bin Huang and the Guarneri del Gesù which belonged to N. Paganini with a program dedicated to J.S. Bach.