Manô (2005)

Miguel de Cervantes - Don Quijote de la Mancha: Romances y Musicas
Montserrat Figueras / Hespèrion XXI / La Capella Reial De Catalunya / Jordi Savall
FLAC, EAC, LOG & CUE | Partial Artwork | Size: 1 GB + Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Alia Vox AVSA 9843 A+B | Country/Year: Spain 2005
Genre: Classical | Hoster: Filepost/Filefacory

Jordi Savall, viol player, conductor, expert in early music performance practice, and founder of the ensembles Hespèrion XXI and La Capella Reial de Catalunya is responsible for what must be one of the most creatively and sumptuously packaged recordings ever produced. This two-SACD set gathers vocal and instrumental music from the era of Cervantes' Don Quixote, some of it directly related to the novel. Savall and Manuel Forcano selected and adapted sections of the novel and interspersed the music and readings, allowing the listener to follow the events of the novel accompanied and surrounded by appropriate music.

When you want music filled to the brim with despair and death, Carlo Gesualdo is the composer you want. Consider opening lines like those of the first four of his third collection of madrigals: "You want me to die," "Whether I die or not," "Alas, life of despair," and "I languish and die": even Dowland and Shostakovich are cheerier than Gesualdo. But, however dark his texts, it cannot be denied that Gesualdo set them with absolute fidelity and utmost sincerity. His lines are twisted, his harmonies are tortured, and his counterpoint is agonizing, but they suit his morbid and morose texts like George Gershwin's music fit his brother Ira.

One of Italy's most prolific and creative composers, Turin-born Piero Piccioni released dozens of scores for many different types of films during his lifetime, and wrote hundred of songs, the most alluring and provocative of which are collected here on The Seduction of Piero Piccioni. Culling tracks from C'Era Una Volta, Fumo di Londra, Mr. Dante Fontana, and I Giovani Tigri, among others, Piccioni's music captures the warmth and innovation of Italian pop music of the time combined with the power to truly propel and define a particular scene. There are a lot of great, fun tracks here – "Easy Dreamer," "Una Colt in Mano al Diavolo," "Capriccio," "Mr. Dante Fontana," and "Richmond Bridge" to name a few – so for anyone interested either in Italian film or Italian music, or just film and music in general, The Seduction of Piero Piccioni is a must-have.

Paco de Lucia, one of the greatest living guitarist in the world, was born Francisco Sanchez Gomez in Algeciras, a city in the province of Cadiz, in the Southernmost tip of Spain on December 21st, 1947. His stage name is an homage to his mother Lucia Gomez.

His father, Antonio Sanchez, a day laborer, played guitar at night as a way to supplement his income. He, Paco's elder brother Ramon de Algeciras and flamenco master Ni–o Ricardo were de Lucia's main influences. His first performance was on Radio Algeciras in 1958. The brothers Ramon, Pepe (a singer) and Paco now compromise half of the Paco de Lucia sextet.

The training ground for a flamenco guitarist, de Lucia once said, "is the music around you, made by people you see, the people you make music with. You learn it from your family, from your friends, in la juerga (the party) drinking. And then you work on technique. Guitarists do not need to study. And, as it is with any music, the great ones will spend some time working with the young players who show special talent. You must understand that a Gypsy's life is a life of anarchy. That is a reason why the way of flamenco music is a way without discipline as you know it. We don't try to organize things with our minds, we don't go to school to find out. We just live…….. music is everywhere in our lives."

The origins of the word flamenco are somewhat in dispute. Some argue that the word refers to the Flemish people who arrived in Spain in the 16th Century and once meant simply foreigner or non-Spanish. Others suggest that the word derives from the Arabic phrase "felah mengu," meaning pleasant in flight.

What is indisputable is that flamenco is a blend of the many cultures - Gypsy, Muslim, Jewish - that at one time settled in Andalucia, in the South of Spain. Their influences can be heard distinctively in the melisma of the singer, the rhythms, the slowly curling harmonic lines of the guitars.