Magret Köll, harpe double : L’arpa di Partenope

   in Early Music Today (Sep, 2014)
This is a deeply compelling illustration, in both sound and pictures (Margret Köll has worked with photographer and filmmaker Armin Linke to document the locations in which the Neapolitan ‘capella reale’ performed during the era of Spanish dominance over the Naples, making for very fine booklet photography), of the harp culture prevalent in the kingdom in the 17th century.

The repertoire is put into context by the inlay notes, which describe the dexterity of the best-known harpist of the 16th century Giallonardo dell’Arpa (whose precision was thought old-fashioned by Carlo Gesualdo in 1594) and the charming but lightweight playing of Adriana Basile in the early 1600s, who ultimately gave up the …