Hopkinson Smith has been called "the finest lute player in the world today" (San Francisco Chronicle),  and his many recordings are praised as "superb." Smith returns to Cambridge for an exciting concert exploring the very beginnings of solo lute music.  The instrument had been popular for centuries, but we do not find sources of lute music until just after 1500, when the print revolution began to transform society. Then, in Venice, there began a virtual avalanche of printed music. Ottaviano Petrucci, inventor of movable type for music, issued the first four volumes of lute music in 1507 and 1508. Three of these survive, with works of Francesco Spinacino and Zoan Ambrosio Dalza. The Spinacino books contains settings of polyphonic songs, by revered French and Flemish masters, and free-form ricercars. From Dalza come artful and varied dances.  In Paris, Pierre Attaignant, printer to the king, improved print technology and started his own avalanche with the first French lute books in 1529 and 1530, containing preludes, dances and chansons. Hopkinson Smith delves into these rich sources for a remarkable view of the first flowering of Renaissance lute music.

The concert includes improvisatory pieces and a variety of Italian and French dances, some light and delicate, others energetic, with virtuoso flourishes. Some of them suggest Celtic roots. Finally, there are “some of the most beautiful chanson settings ever.” Smith enlivens the scores with embellishments and variations, and he gives us freshly edited readings of the Spinacino works. His instrument is a specially made, 6-course lute, with 8ve stringing on the 3rd to 6th courses, for “ringing clarity and brighter resonance." See Hopkinson Smith's CDs on Amazon.com (some streaming available), and visit his website at www.hopkinsonsmith.com.