“History does not unfold like an unbroken chain of links. In any case, many links do not hold,” wrote Eugenio Montale, adding: “History is not the devastating bulldozer that people say it is. It leaves underpasses, crypts, holes and hiding places. There are those who survive.” Among those who survive in splendid form, surfing from the Renaissance to the contemporary world with a design impervious to the academisation of musical practice, is Rolf Lislevand. The Norwegian lutenist, theorbo player, guitarist and performer on any related plucked instrument the reader may wish to add has not only contributed to a new interpretative approach to early music, freeing it from the dictatorship of tablature, but has also developed his own organic understanding of how we can relate to history today. This becomes significant when one considers the extent to which jazz improvisation, contemporary music and the rediscovery of archival materials now intersect, […]