Sances published several books of his music prior to his appointment in 1649 as Kapellmeister of the chapel of the Emperor's court in Vienna, after which the majority of his many works remained in the archives, unpublished in accordance with the conditions of his employment. The recent revival of interest in his music is largely owed to Music Fabula, whose third recording of it this is.
It has always been a poor Italian who couldn't write a good tune and Sances was a good Italian, so there are plenty of winsome melodies here, such as those of Usurpator tiranno, the first known vocal piece in descending tetrachords - predating Monteverdi's Lamento della Ninfa by five years - and the joyous Ardet cor meum. I listened to the disc before reading the booklet and after hearing Sarah Pillow's delivery of the Improvisation on the Passacaglia I was not surprised to learn that she is also 'an accomplished jazz singer' - an observation carrying no pejorative overtone. The instrumental items, the stated raisons d'etre for whose inclusion are given, make rather less absorbing listening, though they're well played.
The occasional rough edge noted by Fabrice Fitch in his review of Musica Fabula's second disc (A/98) is present here, too, albeit to a lesser degree, but uncertain intonation takes its toll on a few of the unexpected chromatic turns in the lines. At the end of FF's review, he says: 'careful listening has only deepened my enjoyment of the music' and hopes that others may reach the same conclusion. I am one of those others, despite his and my reservations.
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