“Although in the works of Dante Alighieri (d. 1321) illustrious poets are often mentioned, a special place of honour is reserved for the troubadours, the Occitan poet-singers of love and war from the 12th and 13th centuries. For this literary and absorbing CD, Bagby & Thornton perform songs (cansos) by six of the troubadours Dante most admired and described in his works.” —Sequentia, Dante and the Troubadours, 1993
Charles Wuorinen, “The Dante Trilogy” (1993-1996)
“In his long composing life, Charles Wuorinen has drawn on an extremely wide range of intellectual and musical inspirations, including many from science and literature. The Dante Trilogy is among his most ambitious compositions, its source one of the great works of the Western intellectual canon. The three ballets each correspond to one of the books of Dante’s Divina Commedia: The Mission of Virgil to Inferno, The Great Procession to Purgatorio, and The River of Light to Paradiso; although rather than attempting to mirror the whole of Dante’s narrative, Wuorinen’s music relates to the detail and atmosphere of the books.” —Naxos
Radio Inferno
“In 1993, German artist Andreas Ammer teamed up with members of Einsturzende Neubauten and legendary DJ John Peel to produce a radio play of Dante’s Divine Comedy. The result was Radio Inferno, with music by Einsturzende’s F.M. Einheit, and starring Blixa Bargeld as Dante, Phil Minton as Virgil, and John Peel as “The Radio” (the narrator). Caspar Brotzmann played guitar, and the work includes guest appearance from Bootsy Collins and many others.” —WFMU, February 18, 2007
Contributed by Jenny Davidson
