Home listening - sweet and low-down

The Guardian 0

Hugo Ticciati and friends dig deep into the chaconne, while I Gemelli unearth the Vepsers of Chiara Margarita Cozzolani

• From the Ground Up (Signum Classics) is the witty title of an imaginative album by the British violinist Hugo Ticciati, with help from Chilean-Swedish mezzo-soprano Luciana Mancini, New York rapper Baba Israel, the British actor Samuel West and various musicians – the O/Modernt chamber orchestra – playing anything from theorbo to electric guitar to percussion, with drones, throat singing and improvisations. The disc’s capacious theme is the ground bass (in which a melodic pattern recurs in the bass part) through musical history, from early Spanish chaconnes, or chacona, to Purcell (Dido’s Lament Remix) to Bach’s Partita in D minor for Solo Violin, BWV 1004.

The ensemble’s Swedish name means Un/Modern, encouraging a refreshing exchange of past and present styles. It works, helped by injections of new sounds from composers Dušan Bogdanović and Johannes Marmén, all beautifully played.