And I Remain shows the joys and sorrows of love expressed in the three great art song traditions of the seventeenth century. This debut album from soprano, Linda Tsatsanis and lutenist, John Lenti gives a prismatic portrait of the chambers of the human heart. Elegant French court airs de cour, charming Elizabethan songs and passionate Italian monody tell the eternal story of love and loss. Canadian-born soprano Linda Tsatsanis enjoys an active and diverse career. Hailed "ravishing" (New York Times) for her performance at the Boston Early Music Festival and blessed with "crystalline purity" (Seattle Times), Ms. Tsatsanis divides her time between early opera and concert performance. John Lenti has appeared as a solo recitalist and chamber musician on lute, theorbo and guitar throughout the United States. He studied lute with Jacob Heringman and Elizabeth Kenny in London and with Nigel North at Indiana University.

TRACK LISTING:
1 Doux Charme du Printemps 3:00 Michel Lambert
2 Le Printemps et L'amour 1:31 Michel Lambert
3 Ah! Que Vous êtes Heureux! 3:13 Sébastien Le Camus
4 Chaconne 2:20 Robert de Visée
5 Laissez Durer la Nuit 5:49 Sébastien Le Camus
6 Que Ta Voix Divine Me Touche! 2:22 Sébastien Le Camus
7 Frogg Galliard 2:13 John Dowland
8 A Galliard 2:38 John Dowland
9 The Earle of Essex Galliard 1:55 John Dowland
10 Can She Excuse My Wrongs 2:23 John Dowland
11 Shall I Strive With Wordes to Move 2:35 John Dowland
12 A Dream 5:35 John Dowland
13 In Darknesse Let Mee Dwell 3:25 John Dowland
14 Come Again: Sweet Love Doth Now Invite 4:35 John Dowland
15 Hor Che Gli Augelli 2:05 Jacopo Peri
16 Piangono al Pianger Mio 3:48 Sigismondo D'India
17 Quest'humil Fera 3:47 Jacopo Peri
18 Arpeggiata a Mio Modo 3:02 Bellerofonte Castaldi

MUSICIANS:
LINDA TSATSANIS voice
JOHN LENTI theorbo & lute

PRODUCTION:
Executive Producer: John Gordon Hill
Engineered, Produced, & Mastered by Al Swanson, Sept. 15-17, 2008
in Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall, Benaroya Hall, Seattle, WA
Photography by Valerie Loiseleux, Nathan Whittaker



REVIEWS:

All About Jazz
C.Michael Bailey
Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century vocal music with lute or theorbo has been enjoying a modern renaissance as evidenced by the recent releases of Monika Mauch and Nigel North's Musical Banquet (ECM, 2008) and Nigel North's Dowland recordings for Naxos. This is period music that immediately evokes images such as those captured in Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth (William Morrow, 1989) and its sequel World Without End (Penguin, 2007). This is old music that is strikingly plaintive and melancholy, even when intended to be happy.

Nigel North student John Lenti and Canadian soprano Linda Tsatsanis assemble a clever collection of lute songs from the French, English, and Italian traditions. All are songs of love and requite, beautifully antique and not anachronistic. The French compositional contingent is represented by Michele Lambert, followed by Sebastien Le Camus and Robert de Visee. Particularly charming is the opening Spring duo by Lambert, "Doux Charme du Printemps" ("Sweet Charm of Spring") and "Le Printemps et L'amour" ("Springtime and Love"). Love and pain are in the air and inseparable as Tsatsanis sings of zephyrs and the sweetness of spring. Lenti's performance of John Dowland's galliards (dances) are as sprite and fresh as Tsatsanis' love of spring. Her Dowland is uniformly fine even in the bleak confines of "In Darknesse Let Mee Dwell."

The least represented here are the Italian songs, but those chosen are splendid. Jacopo Peri's "Hor Che Gli Augelli" ("Now That the Birds") is simple in form making Lenti's and Tsatsanis' delivery that much more crystalline. Claudio Monteverdi's lengthy "Lamento D'Arianna" ("Ariadne's Lament" from his opera L'Arianna (1608) is beautifully transformed from the stage to the salon. These two young musicians are going far to put the Northwest on the musical map.