Auvidis Astrée

Ensemble Zefiro was founded in 1989 by oboists Alfredo Bernardini and Paolo Grazzi together with bassoonist Alberto Grazzi and consists of talented musicians drawn from leading Baroque orchestras. Zefiro regularly appears to great acclaim at major European, Asian and South American festivals.

Ensemble Zefiro, a period instrument group, give careful, attentive readings of Mozart’s two big octet serenades. In each case the opening movement is rather deliberate but very exactly judged in terms of dynamics and accentuation, and collectively very efficiently and precisely executed. The remaining movements are taken quite quickly, especially the minuets (the second of K375 seems unduly so and the trio is done much more slowly; while the canonic one in K388 is a little lightweight).

Jordi Savall & Hespèrion XX - Alfonso X El Sabio - Cantigas de Santa Maria (1993) {Astrée-Auvidis E 8508}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 309 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 164 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 112 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1993 Auvidis / Astrée | E 8508
Classical / Medieval / Chamber Music

Jordi Savall, once more time, shares with us a beautiful program of instrumentals and chorals pieces from the middle age. Alfons X El Sabio Cantigas are the most popular music pieces about this period, but also really majestic. The sound of this album is really magic. A very good choice for a first approach…

Jordi Savall & Hesperion XX - Juan Del Enzina - Romances & Villancicos (1991) {Astrée-Auvidis E 8707}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 415 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 178 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 64 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1991 Auvidis / Astrée | E 8707
Classical / Renaissance

Jordi Savall (born 1941), one of the world's leading players of the viola da gamba, founded the ensemble Hespиrion XX in 1974. Savall's goal — and that of co-founders Montserrat Figueras, Hopkinson Smith, and Lorenzo Alpert — was to explore lesser-known repertories of the European Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Baroque periods; their special love has been early Spanish music. The group has toured over five continents and produced well over 50 recordings (many on the Astree Audivis label). The group's membership changes with the repertory of an individual recording or performance project, and with the particular orchestration envisioned by Savall.

Jordi Savall - Monteverdi - Madrigali Guerrieri Et Amorosi, Libro Ottavo (1995) {Astrée-Auvidis E 8546}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 261 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 133 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 39 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1995 Auvidis / Astrée | E 8546
Classical / Baroque / Renaissance

Monteverdi's madrigals were the laboratory in which he sought the connections between music and the emotions, and none are more moving and evocative than those of his eighth and final book, the "Madrigali Guerrieri et Amorosi," (1638). This release offers only a selection, but puts the music's drama in gratifyingly high relief. It's a beautifully sung, ravishingly played and lushly recorded collection, "Madrigali Guerrieri et Amorosi," by Jordi Savall and La Capella Reial de Catalunya (Astree E 8546). Dynamics are supple, coloration is flexible and expressive dissonances are pointed up in a way that gives works like "Lamento della Ninfa" and "Gira il nemico" an unusually vivid edge.

Jordi Savall - Cristóbal De Morales (ca.1500-1553) - Officium Defunctorum & Missa Pro Defunctis (1992) {Astrée-Naïve ES 9926 rel 1999}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 299 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 171 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 38 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1992, 1999 Auvidis / Astrée / Naïve | ES 9935
Classical / Renaissance / Sacred

Morales's five-part setting of the Requiem is one of the masterpieces of the 16th century and was actually published twice during his lifetime. The 'Missa pro defunctis' follows the customary pattern of the time. Each section begins with a unison Gregorian intonation, which then continues as a cantus firmus in the upper part as the other voices spin a polyphonic texture underneath. The work avoids obvious madrigalisms, but maintains an austere, meditative texture, which is both spiritual and moving.

Jordi Savall - La Lira d'Esperia: La Viele Medievale (1996) {Auvidis E 8547}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 269 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 127 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 27 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1996 Auvidis / Astree | E 8547
Classical / Chamber Music / Medieval Fiddle

Savall's notes make it clear that his intention was not so much to re-create a musical performance of the time as to pay tribute to the jongleurs in pieces that re-create ``a certain art of sounding the bow.'' The re-creations draw on what have become almost stereotypical melodic and rhythmic figures of the music of the Islamic, Jewish, and Christian cultures of the Middle Ages, periodically spiced, as in the Danza del viento, with spiky rhythms that could plausibly have originated in modern jazz improvisation.

Jordi Savall & Hespèrion XX - Folias & Canarios (1994) {Astrée E 8516}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 247 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 132 Mb | Artwork | 5% repair rar
© 1994 Auvidis / Astrée | E 8516
Classical / Renaissance / Baroque

Savall and Hesperion XXI often return to the same material, almost obsessively; yet this repertory - the interface of early Iberian art music and the traditional - sustains endless re-visiting and re-interpretation; there can never be one definitive interpretation of this endlessly rewarding music, as Renaissance and Baroque composers knew - producing as they did endless variations on traditional themes which had woven their way from the popular sphere to the realm of 'art' music. Some of these bass melodies are presented here - the 'Follia' and 'Canaries' -and it is wonderful that Savall has the artistic freedom to perform versions of these again and again on his own label, Alia Vox.

Sometimes you just want to relax. Here is one of my favorite ways. These Divertimenti by Mozart weren't even written for listening; they served as background music for dinners and social events. But Mozart couldn't write empty music, and as undemanding as these pieces are, there is always something to reward your attention in every measure. This sextet of period instrument wind players has exactly the right touch for the music. They play with alertness to every detail and relaxation in expression. The result is one of the most delightful, blissfully undemanding CDs in the catalog.

Jordi Savall & La Capella Reial - Monteverdi - Vespro Della Beata Vergine, 1610 (1989) {2CD Astrée-Auvidis E 8719}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 438 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 224 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 66 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1989 Astrée / Auvidis | E 8719
Classical / Renaissance / Baroque / Choral

There are more than one dozen recordings of Monteverdi's great masterpiece, the Vespers of 1610, a distinction reserved for very few works and composers from the late 16th and early 17th centuries. With this kind of attention, you'd think that this substantial work for choir, soloists, and instruments would be more easily accessible–but it is in fact a structurally complex and musically intricate compilation of hymns, antiphons, and psalms, concluding with a magnificent setting of the Magnificat. Most recordings can't seem to overcome the strategic and technical problems of presenting such a three-dimensional work on a recording. But this one is different: the music literally comes alive and grabs our attention. If you're in the market for Monteverdi's Vespers, look no further. This is the most dynamic, dramatic version on disc.