Bassano Ricercate

Australian recorder player Rodney Waterman has just released his recording of Giovanni Bassano’s solo Ricercate of 1585. This represents the first recording of all eight ricercate on recorder".

Nicholas Lander, Recorder Home Page

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Like a number of other virtuosic recorder soloists performing and recording today, Australian player Rodney Waterman is adept in multiple styles and periods of recorder music. Waterman is known for his wide-ranging interest in both Renaissance repertory and improvisation in modal free improv and jazz plus related styles. Good examples of the latter are his Duo Windborne videos with Ryan Williams. 

Waterman's pandemic project in 2020 was a recording of improvised fantasias inspired by the Telemann solo fantasias and played virtually in a variety of locations of significance to Waterman's musical life. 

Given his success with these aspects of recorder playing, it's not surprising that he'd be drawn to the solo works composed by Giovanni Bassano. Giovanni was a member of the Italian Bassano family of performers, composers and instruments makers, a number of whom were active in England in the 16th century. 

Giovanni's musical life was in Venice. He is best known for the pedagogical composition Ricerate passaggi et cadentie per potersi esercitar nel diminuir terminatamente con ogni sorte d'istrumento (1585). The eight works in that collection are examples of how to improvise and ornament with taste and virtuosic technique. A facsimile of the 1585 edition is available, https://Imslp.org/wiki/Ricercate,_passagglet_cadentle_(Bassano,_Giovanni), and in various modern editions. I'm fond of the out of print edition by Bernard Thomas of the eight Ricercari. (LPMREP10, see https://orpheus-music.com.au/descant/2555-8-ricer-cars-1530783917374.html). These pieces while designated for soprano, or sometimes tenor, are best played on a Ganassi-style alto recorder in G. 

On this recording, Waterman uses just such an instrument made by Fred Morgan (1940-99), to whom he dedicates the recording. Morgan, a highly regarded Australian recorder maker (mentor of Adriana Breukink and Nikolaj Ronimus among others), did a great deal of research on the Ganassi instruments, igniting much interest in reproductions and inspiring new designs based on those instruments. 

This repertory is both delightful and quite challenging. The challenge is not merely technical, but more how to make sense of the flurries of notes, and how to shape them into meaningful phrases. This applies to both performer and listener. 

To my ears, Waterman succeeds very well in meeting these tests. The recording was made at Bluestone Chapel, Montsalvat, Victoria, Australia, a remarkable stone building with excellent acoustics for this repertory. 

Mischa Herman's sound engineering places the solo recorder centre stage in a pleasing presence of room sound. 

Melbourne based recorder and viol player Ruth Wilkinson provides a wonderful essay available to all. That essay follows Waterman's remarks about his deep engagement with Morgan and with the building of the Ganassi instruments. 

I recommend downloading this at the highest quality, (for instance WAV or AIFF files) and then finding inspiration in Waterman's performance to explore this repertory yourself. 

American Recorder Summer 2023 Review by Tom Bickley

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Rodney Waterman says: 'When I first acquired a “Ganassi” recorder in g’ made by Fred Morgan in 1980, I was eager to find suitable repertoire. Fred pointed me to the music of late 16th century Italian composers, Aurelio Virgiliano and Giovanni Bassano. I soon heard recordings of solo ricercars by these composers performed by Frans Brüggen, Michel Piguet, and Australian player Greg Dikmans, all using “Ganassi” recorders by Morgan. I fell in love with the instrument's unique bold and beautiful tone, and especially the extraordinary and fluent two and a half octave range. For two years, 1997 and 1998, I worked as an instrument tester for Morgan. This provided me with the chance to play-in some of the best recorders ever made, including many “Ganassi” instruments'. 

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Released November 22, 2022

This recording is dedicated to Frederick Morgan (1940-1999).