Home on The Range Comic

A deeply seductive album of Spanish songs by composers including Granados and Turina, performed by the young Spanish soprano Sylvia Schwartz, whose commitment to this repertoire is described above, and is evident from her utterly enchanting performances.

Laughter, derision, parody, jokes and satire: all 'tools for social survival' (Éric Smadja). The comic, parodic and satirical poetry presented on this CD provides, in performance, a thematic backdrop to a rich feast of medieval music. While at its heart lies a group of earthily humorous 15th-century sonnets in Paduan dialect — whose local flavour is typical of folk tradition but whose literary qualities are skilfully exploited — this collection of music, songs and courtly dances can only be defined as European (in the sense that these works are cross-cultural, rather than having anything to do with the modern political entity).