David Annis

Jordi Savall & Hesperion XXI - Christophorus Columbus (2006) {2CD+Book Set Alia Vox AVSA 9850}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 701 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 348 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 380 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2006 Alia Vox | AVSA 9850
Classical / Renaissance / World Music / Sacred & Religious

This remarkable release, comprising two CDs and a book of 270 pages with information in Spanish, English, German, Italian, Catalan, Arabic, and Hebrew, is a veritable history lesson in music, poetry, and literature about Spain, as well as Christopher Columbus and his voyages and times. The title of the set, Lost Paradises, refers to the cessation of the period during which all three traditions - Jewish, Muslim and Christian - worked together to create greatness. The music, pre-baroque and sounding very exotic indeed, is exquisitely performed, sometimes by itself and sometimes in conjunction with the reading of a text. The Moorish and Sephardic music is particularly colorful, but the more familiar, "early" music is just as ravishing. With repertoire both sacred and profane, featuring dances and dirges, Savall, in his notes, is attempting to make us pay heed to the past so that we may form our futures: This isn't as pedantic as it sounds, but it is certainly more than an afternoon of great music listening. What a stunning gift this would make - either to yourself or others.

Montserrat Figueras & Jordi Savall - La Voix de l’Emotion - The Voice of Emotion (2012) {2CD Set, Alia Vox AVSA9889}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 761 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 394 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 206 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2012 Alia Vox | AVSA9889
Classical / Vocal / Chamber Music / Medieval / Renaissance

This album gathers highlights from Montserrat Figueras career for the Astrée, DHM, EMI and Alia Vox labels. 5 of the 35 tracks have already been reissued in a portrait album released in the 1990s by Astrée, La 'Voix de l Emotion'. Jordi Savall wanted to keep the same title for this much more comprehensive double album, in tribute to the late Montserrat Figueras, his wife and collaborator of 43 years. 35 year-career: 35 tracks a dazzlingly clear soprano voice, a line of the purest silk, as strong as it was delicate.