This Italian duo consisting of soprano Claudia Florio and instrumentalist Riccardo Prencipe does not grant an easy access to their second album Florilegium.
On one side there is quite sophisticated, partly very beautiful music, sometimes more classic, sometimes more medieval and altogether very diversified. Traditional parts are taken from - as far as I can assess that –the stylistically quite diverse period between the 12th and 16th century. Sometimes solo excursions tend to be lengthy and overdone. But the music is generally wonderful to listen to and very atmospheric.
On the other side the pure classic vocals, which are – technically speaking – perfecty alright, seem more often not to suit the music and turn out even pushy at times. Though, I have to mention that Claudia Florio varies her voice a lot: she sings and speaks and whispers. But it does not change the fact that especially her high-pitched voice is hard to take for me.
So, many of the tracks on Florilegium are suffering from this antagonism, such as the contemplatively dusky Sub specie aeternitatis or the percussive Aegypto ad Siciliam. Melodies get mostly borne by guitars and/ or violins, while the lyrics are almost continuously in Latin. Merely The Wind That Shakes The Barley is sung in English (Dead Can Dance have interpreted this song too). It is a very haunting version: pure singing that sounds as if it was recorded in a church, which conveys a very intimate feeling. It shows that Claudia Florio masters her skills. It is just associated with the music, where I have my problems. The core of Florilegium is surely the 10 minutes long Formis Melata Sanctus Filis, which again creates a wonderful atmosphere with its quiet guitar tones.
Musically there is nothing to nag about LVPERCALIA, but as what counts is the overall picture, I can rate with just 7 points. Those who are looking for an interesting CD outside of the mainstream market, will discover something special with LVPERCALIA.