Different Cavalier

Jordi Savall & Hesperion XXI - Dinastia Borgia - Chiesa e potere nel Rinascimento (2010) [3CD+DVD] {Alia Vox}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 1.11 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 534 Mb
DVD5 -> 3.73 Gb | All Regions | PAL 4:3 | Dolby AC3, 2 ch | ~ 81m | ISO Image | Subs: Catala, French, English
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 927 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2010 Alia Vox | AVSA 9875
Classical / Renaissance

Coinciding with the 500th anniversary of the birth of Saint Francis Borgia, Fourth Duke of Gandia, Jordi Savall and Alia Vox offer a visually lavish and artistically comprehensive new release entitled Dinastia Borgia. Savall’s latest musicological/historical quest focuses on music from the time of the Borgia dynasty, including works by composers such as Isaac, Dufay and Morales, from Pope Alexander VI/6 and two of his children, Cesare and Lucrezia, through to Francis Borgia, Jesuit priest and, perhaps, composer. For five centuries, scholars have studied and debated the role of the Borgias in Renaissance history. Although their name is synonymous with Papal corruption and they were undoubtedly malevolent and immoral, as patrons of the arts, the Borgias were also instrumental in the period’s explosive growth of culture.

The project, originated in the mind of Daniele Mazza, started to materialize in 2006 after Daniele met with bass player Martino Garattoni. The first stable line up was completed in 2007, with Sara Squadrani as singer, Alessandro Carichini as drummer, and Claudio Pietronik and Fabio Balducci as guitarists…

Given that box sets are too often thrown together in a last cavalier attempt to get mileage from back catalog, it's a pleasure to find one that has rhyme and reason, assembling a program that would be hard for the buyer to find on his or her own and offering a real tribute to a beloved figure.

In the golden age of orchestral recording – the 1950s cusp between mono and stereo – American labels piled into London and Vienna after an aggressive union priced their own musicians out of work. At Abbey Road, players worked 30 days on the trot, three sessions a day, to feed a burgeoning market for classical music. In Vienna, the Philharmonic (exclusively contracted to Decca) performed under six different names for other labels.

A Spanish band Baccara became popular at the end of the 70-ies, the most famous hits being «Cara Mia», «Sorry I’m A Lady». Baccara sold the most copies of their single and featured in the Guiness Book of World Records, as the highest selling female band. The band members have changed over the years and the current team is different to the original ones. The original band singers Mayte Mateos and Maria Mendiola met during one of the Spanish ballet troupe’s tour. They decided to form a music band by singing cover songs in clubs and hotels. Shortly after that they met their first producer from RCA studio. Together they released their first single «Yes Sir, I Can Boogie», which was instantly at the top of all music charts and loved by the audience. The first studio album that became platinum twice was released in 1977.

ELECTRACOUSTIC, an unusual title for an unusual album. It is the 11th studio album of guitar-ace JULIAN SAS. The record is the result of a journey for which the description 'emotional rollercoaster' is an understatement. Playing live, playing long shows, being on the road. That is the lifeline of the Julian Sas Band. The pandemic hit. In a flash that lifeline was cut. But then disaster struck even harder Friend and fellow musician Fotis Anagnostou was diagnosed with a terrible disease and passed away soon therafter in Athens. JULIAN SAS: 'When we saw him depart on his final journey I felt our feelings could not be expressed in words. Several months later when I was listening to some of the demos I realized we could. The music was there. It was good, honest, and waiting for us.'

Along with Wit's Naxos recording, this is one of the best versions of Messiaen's phantasmagoric Turangalîla-Symphonie available, and it's very different: swifter, more obviously virtuosic in concept, perhaps a touch less warm in consequence, and engineered with greater “in your face” immediacy. The playing of the Concertgebouw, always a wonderful Messiaen orchestra, is stunning throughout. Chailly revels in the music's weirdness. The Ondes Martinot, for example, is particularly well captured. It's interesting how earlier performances tended to minimize its presence, perhaps for fear that is would sound silly, which of course it does, redeemed by the composer's utter seriousness and obliviousness to anything that smacks of humor. In any case, it's not all noise and bluster. The Garden of Love's Sleep is gorgeous, hypnotic, but happily still flowing, while the three Turangalîla rhythmic studies have remarkable clarity. Jean-Yves Thibaudet plays the solo piano part magnificently, really as well as anyone else ever has.