Evangelina Mascardi, Bach: Complete Lute Works Review

Evangelina Mascardi is considered one of the most renowned lute players on the international scene. Mascardi was a gifted performer at an early age, graduated in classical guitar, and started her concert career as a highly praised soloist. In 1997 she moved to Europe to study with Hopkinson Smith at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (Basel, Switzerland), where she obtained her “Solisten Diplom” in 2001. Since that time, she has collaborated regularly as a continuo-player with Jordi Savall (Hespèrion XXI), Marc Minkowsky (Les Musiciens du Louvre), Andrea Marcon (Venice Baroque Orchestra), Giovanni Antonini (Giardino Armonico), Chiara Banchini (415), Simon Rattle (Berliner Philarmoniker). She took part in more than 30 recordings with them and other ensembles. Mascardi has four solo albums to her credit, two devoted to Johann Sebastian Bach and Sylvius Leopold Weiss (ORF-Alte Musik, Austria 2003 and 2009), one to refined and original theorbo solos by the Modena-born Bellerofonte Castaldi (Arcana 2011) and the latest recently devoted to the Belgian lutenist and composer Laurent de Saint-Luc (Musique en Wallonie 2018). Since 2020 Mascardi has been a member of the Scientific Commette of the Convegno internazionale di chitarra (Milan) and, since 2021, of the Directive Board of the Italian Lute Society. She is now releasing her fifth album titled Bach: Complete Lute Works.

Bach: Complete Lute Works is presented with Macardi performing on solo lute and is a massive interpretive collection of playing. Bach wrote seven compositions commonly called works for lute; despite more than a century of studies, the masterpieces have not entirely revealed the mystery of their birth, of their real instrumental destination, and of Bach’s decidedly abstract concept of the instrument, the lute, which in its latest evolution continued after almost three centuries of glory to attract the attention of the highest musical lineage. Bach did not collect the works in a single cycle, as he did for the works for solo violin and cello. The mystery is also furthered by the works being brought into the guitar repertoire; as the lute was destined to disappear from the music scene since the works were written. Now, Mascardi brings the lute and the compositions back to discover or define the unknown. Mascardi does it with this extraordinary engraving, which in addition to being the first Bach complete lute works reordered by a woman, writes a new significant interpretative page, the result of artistic maturity, critical rethinking, and original instrumental research. “Prelude in C Minor, BWV 999” is one of the most popular introductory pieces in the classical guitar repertoire, and a moment to hear how Macardi approaches this well-known work. Her sense of phrasing and clarity of each voice is excellent and serves the music well. “Allemande” from the Suite in Minor, BWV 996, is taken at a very relaxed tempo, and the tone of the lute is gorgeous and resonates beautifully. Every classical guitarist knows “Bourée” from Suite in Minor, BWV 996, and here, Macardi performs a clean and flowing version at a brisk tempo and forgoes the repeats. “Double” from the Suite in C minor, BWV 997 shows Macardi’s technical ability as she effortlessly keeps all the counterpoints connected in each voice. Overall, Macardi has a powerful and rewarding project with Bach: Complete Lute Works and is a must for any guitarist and classical music fan. That’s the short of it!

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