Review

Featuring the music of Barbara Strozzi and her mentors and contemporaries (Monteverdi, Kapsberger, Rossi, Merula and Landi), the incomparable soprano Suzie LeBlanc has teamed up with a most remarkable ensemble. In this recording, Constantinople looks to the early baroque with its well-established technique of infusing early and contemporary Western music with Persian musical traditions. And the repertoire of 17th-century Venice lends itself very well to the fusion, with its own tradition of highly-ornamented stylization, resulting in an intricate and marvellous interpretation. Joining theTabassian brothers Kiya (setar) and Ziya (percussion) are Enrique Solinis (baroque guitar/theorbo), Pierre-Yves Martel (viola da gamba) and Miren Zeberio (baroque violin). Unique exchanges abound amongst the instrumentalists, particularly in the Kapsberger selections, ever shifting in rhythmic nuance. It is a delight to hear LeBlanc interpret the songs of Barbara Strozzi, a singer and composer known as much for her intellect, learning and wit as her talent and beauty. LeBlanc skillfully captures her spirit. Her profoundly moving performance of Monteverdi’s Si dolce è il tormento bears witness to a wide range of emotion encapsulated in its simple strophic form. 

This has proven to be a particularly prolific year for LeBlanc. A scholar in her own right, she has also been busy of late researching rare Christmas tunes from France and Acadia, resulting in the release of a lovely collection on her latest CD, La Veillée de Noël.