Luogo e data di registrazione		Chiesa di San Martino, Bologna (Italy) - 27/29 maggio 1978 Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nürnberg (Germany) - 16/17 agosto 1978
	Registrazione: live / studio		studio
	Recording Supervision		Paul Dery | Wolfgang Draga (Nürnberg)
	Engineer		Sonart, Milano
	Prima Edizione LP		Harmonia Mundi (EMI Electrola) | 1C 157-99 835/36 | 2 LPs - durata 43' 04" - 46' 14" | (p) 1979
	Edizione CD		EMI / Deutsche Harmonia Mundi | LC 8586 | CDM 7 69551 2 | 1 CD - durata 79' 21" | (c) 1988 | ADD
	Cover Art		G. Frescobaldi, zeitgenöss, Gemälde, Bologna. Mit freundlicher Genehmigung von: Scala.
	Note		L'edizione in compact disc non comprende gli ultimi due brani (D3 e D4).

Frescobaldi was forty years of age at the time he published his Capricci; the dedication to Prince Alfonso of Modena, an member of the artistically inclined d’Este family, is dated April 12th, 1624. As organist of St. Peter’s in Rome Frescobaldi had long enjoyed a reputation as a famous performer, an important composer and a creator of various styles of playing keyboard instruments. The capricci were written for those who were interested in “seriousness of style, a difficult and learned perfection”, as it were. The word “capriccio” means mood. Thus, these artfully arranged polyphonic works are intended not only as didactic pieces in difficult style, but also as intellectual delights for performers and audience alike. As the title explains, the Capricci are based on various “soggetti” and “arias”, i. e. popular song melodies. A “soggetto“ (subject) is not exactly the same as what was later called a theme; rather, it is better described as a simple melodic phrase which serves as the foundation for the polyphonic structures the composer devises as well as for the interplay of all sorts of variants. Of the four capricci based on arias the partita on "Or chè noi rimena" has a unique structure (series of variations). The original song, which has not survived, is most prominent in the variations 1, 3 und 4. Despite their individuality, the three remaining capricci on song theme, viz. sopra Ia Bassa Fiamenga, la Spagnoletta and sopra l'aria di Ruggiero, have their broadly polyphonic structure in common with the capricci on soggetti. The three largest pieces in the collection are the capricci on solmizations syllables. By dividing the piece up into several rhythmically very different sections and introducing various motives which differ sharply from the original subject, Frescobaldi is capable of making even pieces like these, whose sogetti are not exactly inspiring, interesting. The soggetto of the Capriccio sopra La sol fa re mi had been previously employed by the Netherland composer Josquin des Prez in a mass on “Lascia fare mi”. In the eight Sections of this capriccio Frescobaldi demonstrates his art of transformation, employing the slightest nuances of variation to shed new light on the basically simple thematic material. Indeed, in the Capriccio sopra il Cucho, likewise composed on the model of earlier Netherland masses, he carries his skill to the extreme: the cuckoo’s call (d''-b') is heard no fewer than 80 times. The Capriccio obligo di cantare la quinta parte (Capriccio Nr. 10) is a riddle. Frescobaldi gives the instruction: “obligatory to sing the fith part without playing it, at the same time however adhering to the soggetto as written”. The piece itself might be called a capriccio with several soggetti. The first theme is a canon which recurs throughout the entire pieces as a cantus firmus. In a sense the capricci on arias are also riddles; for the melodies are not set forth in their entirety at the outset, but are rather divided up into several soggetti, whereby the first melodic section seems to dominate the capriccio. In one of the most beautiful pieces in the collection, the introspective Capriccio di durezze, Frescobaldi raises chromaticism above the level of wild experimentation, pointing the way to new possibilities for an expressive tone-language. Wolfgang Werner