Jordi Savall & Montserrat Figueras

This disc of Iberian and Latin American Renaissance music is a reissue cleverly disguised as a new release. It compiles music from several recordings by Catalonian visionary Jordi Savall, his luminous-voiced collaborator Montserrat Figueras, and his Hesperion XXI and Capella Reial de Catalunya ensembles, dressing them up with a new set of rather philosophical booklet notes on themes of change, of intercultural tolerance, and of the evolving nature of Christianity in the Iberian realm and in New Spain. Some might call this a cynical ploy, but actually Savall has always been moving in a circle, so to speak, spiraling inward toward a deeper musical understanding of the historical themes touched on here: the lingering effects of the legacy of medieval Iberia and its "mestissage" or mixture of cultures, the reign of Holy Roman Emperor Charles (Carlos) V (did you know that he was both the first monarch to be called "His Majesty" and the first to be honored with the claim that the "sun never set" on his empire?), and the relationships between cultivated and popular styles, both in Iberia and the New World.

Jordi Savall & Montserrat Figueras - Cançons de la Catalunya mil·lenària (2011) {Alia Vox AVSA 9881}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 352 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 184 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 133 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2011 Alia Vox | AVSA 9881
Classical / Chamber Music / Vocal / Sacred / World Music

This reissue in the Heritage Series - the original album was released in 1988 - enables us to hear the unique Montserrat Figueras singing a repertoire she embodies like nobody else : the traditional songs of Catalonia. This performance is the natural continuation of her exploration of the great works connected to Catalogne,eg: the Song of the Sybille or the Red Book of Montserrat (Gregorian manuscript): on this shore of Mediterranean Sea, traditional and "classical" repertoires are connected in a very intimate way. This album is a landmark of in the career of Montserrat Figueras: her innovative style of interpretation, characterised by great fidelity to the historical sources combined with an extraordinary creative and expressive power, sounds at its best.

Instead of focusing on a single work or repertory, Jordi Savall, together with his wife Montserrat Figueras and their children Arianna and Ferran Savall, here offers what he terms "a highly personal selection of the music that has moved us by its tenderness and beauty, as well as its ability to promote dialogue and harmony." Thus we have melodies and mostly improvisatory instrumental pieces from a variety of traditions, opening with an absolutely delectable love song by the thirteenth century Galician-Portuguese troubador Martin Codax, and proceeding through music from Afghanistan, Morocco, Sephardic Judaism, France, Mexico, and the inspiration of the various Savalls themselves, among various other sources.

Jordi Savall & Montserrat Figueras - El Cant de la Sibil-la, Mallorca & Valencia, 1400-1560 (1999) {Alia Vox AV9806}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 228 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 143 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 58 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1999 Alia Vox | AV9806
Classical / Medieval / Choral / Sacred Music

The origins of the Songs of the Sibyls date back to the 6th century BC. Semi-divine beings, their oracular powers enabled them to predict the future. The myth of the sibyl was appropriated by the early Christians to prophesy the second coming of Christ, heralding the last judgment and the end of the world. This mythological element survived as late as the Middle Ages and even the Renaissance. Originally sung in Latin, the Songs of the Sibyls were traditionally performed by a young boy disguised as a woman during Matins on Christmas Day or during Holy Week in France, Italy and especially the Iberian Peninsula from the 10th century.

Jordi Savall & Montserrat Figueras - Tarquinio Merula - Su La Cetra Amorosa, Arie E Capricci (2008) {Alia Vox AVSA 9862 rec 1992}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 282 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 131 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 88 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1992, 2008 Alia Vox | AVSA 9862
Classical / Baroque / Chamber Music / Vocal Music

This album, originally recorded in 1992, was remastered in 2008 and issued as part of the Heritage series of Jordi Savall's Alia Vox label in a nifty combination of reissue and improvement. The album certainly qualifies as one of the greatest hits of Savall (whose role here is as gambist, with a small ensemble of northern European players ) and his wife, soprano Montserrat Figueras, who is the star of the show. Figueras' vocals are as usual a central attraction, with their incredible combination of suppleness, accuracy over a wide range, expression, and Iberian gutsiness. But the program here, though somewhat removed from the Iberian core of the Figueras/Savall repertory, is equally compelling.

Jordi Savall & Montserrat Figueras - El Nuevo Mundo - Folias Criollas (2010) {Alia Vox AVSA 9876}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 414 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 183 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 273 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2010 Alia Vox | AVSA 9876
Classical / Chamber Music / Vocal Music / Early Music / Baroque / World Music

This album takes off from where a previous Jordi Savall release, Villancicos y danzas criollas (Creole Dances and Villancicos), left off. Now Savall, aided by his wife and lead vocalist Montserrat Figueras, as well as several of his longtime co-conspirators, has formed a new group, Tembembe Ensamble Continuo, specifically devoted to the Latin American Baroque repertory heard here. The album is accompanied by an impressive 172-page booklet, with all texts in the original language, generally Spanish but with mixtures of Native American and African speech, English, French, Castilian Spanish, German, and Italian, and booklet notes (in all those languages plus Catalan), including an overview of the genres involved plus a historical essay on the culture of the Spanish-colonized Latin-Caribbean region.

Jordi Savall & Montserrat Figueras - Pro Pacem: Textes, Art & Musiques pour la Paix (2012) {Alia Vox AVSA9894}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 382 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 188 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 97 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2012 Alia Vox | AVSA9894
Classical / Vocal Music / Chamber Music / Instrumental Music / World Music

PRO PACEM is a new CD-Book project that makes a plea for a world without war or terrorism and for total nuclear disarmament. It presents a sound mosaic that takes the form of a living dialogue of spiritually expressive vocal and instrumental music from a variety of repertoires from East (Armenia, Turkey, Sepharad, India, Israel and China) and West (Greece, Spain, England, Portugal, Italy, Estonia and Belgium).

Jordi Savall & Hesperion XXI - Invocation a la Nuit - Musica Notturna (2008) [2CD] {10th Alia Vox Anniversary}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 699 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 359 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 166 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2008 Alia Vox | AVSA 9861 A+B
Classical / Chamber Music / Vocal Music / Symphonies / Suites

Did you know that most Alia Vox albums were recorded between 1 and 4 am? Not only because of tight recording schedules, but also because the night creates an very special quality of silence… This double album is the best possible tribute to Alia Vox' short but intense history. Not just an 'anniversary CD': it is a fascinating musical journey, based not only on existing material, but also on unreleased recordings (Charpentier - CD2 track 5) and on future albums (CD2 track 1 was recorded for the upcoming project Jerusalem). Recordings from the Astrée catalogue are also included in this definitive overview of a major component of Jordi Savall's creative process: the night.

It was 1988, and at that time the vast majority of Charpentier’s works were still accessible only via the original sources, so we had to rely on microfilms of the composer’s complete works collected in the twenty-eight manuscript volumes known as “Meslanges”. Poring over the manuscript pages on the screen of our microfilm reader, I studied and selected the works for the programme on the basis of the original texts.