SOLLAZZO ENSEMBLE

In this concert, Sollazzo Ensemble perform a series of moralising songs from the late Middle Ages that they have recorded (Linn Records, 2017) and that have won them numerous awards, including the Diapason d’Or 2018. “Parle qui veut” (Speak, whoever wants to), which is the title of an anonymous medieval song, gives its name to a programme that offers us texts of surprising force.
Six hundred years ago, poets and musicians were already reflecting, singing about human nature and, in a special way, about critical thinking and the importance of the arts. Now, today’s musicians give voice to medieval compositions by French and Italian composers such as Andrea da Firenze, Johannes Ciconia, Francesco Landini, Niccolò da Perugia, Paolo da Firenze and Solage. Surprisingly modern, the courtly love is laden with phrases with double meanings.
Protest, irony and bittersweet humour are sprinkled throughout these 14th-century songs that will make you laugh and reflect in equal parts. They may sometimes make you think that, as Niccolò da Perugia said, “Il megli’ è pur tacere” (It’s better to say nothing at all). Or maybe they won’t.