Despite Grammy nominations for their recordings of Vivaldi’s Concerti con molti Istromenti (Tactus) and Corelli’s opus 6 Concerti Grossi, Florence-based Modo Antiquo remain a surprisingly low-profile ensemble outside their native Italy.
My own first encounter with them was not until 2003, when I was asked to review their electrifying Tactus recording of Vivaldi’s oratorio Juditha triumphans, immediately recognising that here was an ensemble of very special quality.
It therefore comes as an even greater surprise to discover that Modo Antiqua was among the pioneers of the early music revival Italy, as their director, the conductor, flautist and composer Federico Maria Sardelli explains:
“I formed Modo Antiquo in 1984.
At that time there were very few Italian ensembles, particularly with philological aims, dedicated to early music.
The reasons that encouraged me to form the ensemble are to be found primarily in the heart and in the mind; a great passion for the music of the medieval and Baroque periods and a great love of historical research, such as examining the sources and contemporary ways of performing and understanding the music.
One then realizes that the research process is an ongoing one, reaching ever more closely toward a point in the past, but as with Achilles and the tortoise, notwithstanding the ever increasing proximity, that point is never reached”. |
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