Formed in 2015 by four young musicians, Les Kapsber’girls, by their very name, send a nod and a wink to one of their favourite composers. It is thus quite natural that their first recording be dedicated to the works of Girolamo Kapsberger, a virtuoso musician and exceptional composer in Rome in the early 17th century.

The extreme variety of his output bears witness to the artistic effervescence of pre-baroque Italy and to the immense talent of one of the geniuses of music history. His four books of villanelles in 1, 2 and 3 parts, published between 1610 and 1623, are veritable gems of music; from one work to another Kapsberger takes us to the heart of a world of bucolic poetry with some instructive contrasts. The extraordinary diversity of the characters and colours of these even now little-known airs makes us dream, surprises and amazes us, and leaves us with a strange yet pleasant sense of nostalgia...

With Che fai tu?, the Kapsber’girls present a rediscovery of these little gems through their unique performance style. The songs alternate with instrumental pieces that enable us to appreciate the sound of Albane Imbs on a variety of plucked string instruments: archlute, theorbo, baroque guitar and tiorbino. All of this is brilliantly brought together (and in sound) thanks to the artistic direction of Rolf Lislevand, the illustrious specialist of this repertory.

In search of new keys for reading and interpreting the historical sources, the four Kapsber’girls throw an oblique light on these little-known or even forgotten works, finding new pathways and having fun with the genre. Energy and vitality taken from ‘popular’ forms of music, colourations tending towards the tones of contemporary music and a restless desire to look for the new in the old are all on the agenda.