Monteverdi: Jordi Savall

Jordi Savall is painting Monteverdi in the colours of the Mediterranean. The Catalan maestro has entrusted the title role of this foundational work of Western music to a remarkable baritone: the magnificent Marc Mauillon embodies Orfeo, his resonant and ductile voice in perfect unison with the conductor's musical vision. Here, a warm performance and rich sound reign supreme!

Jordi Savall & Montserrat Figueras - Tarquinio Merula - Su La Cetra Amorosa, Arie E Capricci (2008) {Alia Vox AVSA 9862 rec 1992}
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© 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.

Vocal music is a reflection of its time, crossing the centuries to reveal emotion, particularly its religious side in which it forms an obvious prayer. Thus, on this recording which begins with Alfonso X. El Sabio all the way to Mozart and Haydn, the Vox Aeterna (Eternal voice) speaks to us, moves us, making itself the intermediary of our own feelings.

Between 1975 and 1983, Jordi Savall recorded five albums including the most beautiful pieces from each of the five ‘Books of Pieces for the Viol’ composed by Marin Marais between 1686 and 1725. A silence of nearly 250 years came to an end. A repertoire - and even better, an instrument - returned from oblivion. The memory of a composer had never been so closely linked to the performing art of amusician. 35 years after the beginning of this history-making enterprise, the five Astree albums are offered in a remastered sound, that fully rewards the genius of Marin Marais and Jordi Savall. Luxuriously documented – as always with Alia Vox - this anthology is a must-have for any Baroque music lover.

Jordi Savall - Lachrimae Caravaggio (2007) {Alia Vox AVSA9852}
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© 2007 Alia Vox | AVSA 9852
Classical / Renaissance / Contemporary Classical / Chamber Music / Viola da gamba

Jordi Savall has created another lavishly produced and sonically gorgeous album for Alia Vox. Here the theme is the art of Caravaggio, specifically, seven of his most wrenching paintings, all on Biblical or religious themes, six of them images of death, or near-death, and five of them are violent. The program booklet includes reproductions of the paintings and reflective essays by Dominique Fernandez. This collection of 30 pieces differs from many of Savall's releases in that it includes many of his original works, as well as many improvisations, in addition to only a few pieces by Renaissance composers.

Jordi Savall & Le Concert Des Nations - Mozart - Serenate Notturne (2005) {Alia Vox AV9846}
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© 2005 Alia Vox | AVSA 9846
Classical / Viennese School / Orchestral

Loving performances caught in lovely sound, so what's not to love? Not, as it turns out, much, but not, regrettably, nothing at all. Jordi Savall, the gambist cum conductor who directs Le Concert Des Nations, is a genial, even affectionate leader who in these four light works of Mozart grants his players a considerable amount of interpretive freedom. Le Concert Des Nations, Savall's all-purpose classical and pre-classical chamber orchestra, responds with funny, even frothy, playing is as technically assured as it is brilliantly colorful. Alia Vox, Savall's label for everything he records from El Sabio to Monteverdi, catches the performances in a warm, natural, and deep acoustic of amazing vividness.

Jordi Savall & Hesperion XXI - Invocation a la Nuit - Musica Notturna (2008) [2CD] {10th Alia Vox Anniversary}
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© 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.

Jordi Savall & Hesperion XXI - William Lawes - Consort Sets in Five & Six Parts (2002) {2CD Alia Vox AV9823 A+B}
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© 2002 Alia Vox | AV9823 A+B
Classical / Baroque / Chamber Music / Viola da Gamba

Lawes's "sets" are actually suites for five or six viols with an organ playing "underneath" them. Each shortish set is broken into even shorter parts: Fantazy, Aire, Paven, etc.–and while the formula remains essentially the same, the textures and harmonies are constantly changing, with dissonances and conversations between and among the various strings giving the works great variety. On these two beautiful CDs (the first devoted to Five parts, the second to Six), Jordi Savall and Hesperion XXI play on a pair of violins, four viols, and organ, offering great contrast and flavor and making us aware of just how energetic and fascinating counterpoint can be. The colors the six (or seven) musicians get from their instruments and the interplay among them is fantastic; the playing is superb. Fans of any type of chamber music will want to hear what this underrecorded composer who died too young (43) added to the genre. It's as if he created a new language, one that seems to have been waiting to be heard. A lovely, thoughtful couple of hours of music-making.

Jordi Savall & Hespèrion XXI - Venezia Millenaria 700-1797 (2018) {Alia Vox Official Digital Download AVSA9925}
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© 2018 Alia Vox | AVSA9925
Classical / Early Music / Medieval / Renaissance / Baroque / Chamber Music / Vocal Music

Over 1,000 years, from the Byzantine Empire to the Napoleonic Wars, Venice played a key role in shaping the Western music. Jordi Savall and his ensembles pay a tribute to a place that fully profited from its priviliged links with the Orient while hosting geniuses like Monteverdi, Gabrieli and Vivaldi. As you have come to expect from Alia Vox, this CD-book is lavishly illustrated and documented.