Il Milione
Book of the Marvels of the World
4 singers istrumentalists + 2 performers on santur and tabla
1 narrator
Marco Polo (1254-1324) spent his life between the ages of seventeen and forty-one traveling across the Middle East and Central Asia to China, becoming a trusted man at the court of the Great Khan. On his return he stayed for a year at the Genova's prisons where he met Rustichello da Pisa, to whom he entrusted the story of his journey which will be at first reported in French, ad later was followed by many manuscript alterations in several languages. Il Milione alternates description of places with narration of historical events and legends; LaReverdie gives sound to the reading of some stages and stories of this journey with the instruments and music of the European Middle Ages, dialoguing with instruments and repertoire of the Middle East, played by two soloists of santur and tabla.