Glosa

Two decades following his first album of lute intabulations by the renaissance composer Josquin des Prez (the first album of its kind), celebrated lutenist Jacob Heringman returns to this rich but largely neglected part of the repertoire to present a new recording of intabulations for lute and vihuela.

The repertory of the Spanish vihuela from the 16th century remains little investigated, partly because few original instruments exist; when vihuela works appear on recordings they are often played on the lute or guitar. This is a shame, for the instrument has its own sound and a repertory (albeit one that often claimed playability on various instruments) that exploited that sound. The vihuela is large, with six pairs of strings running up a large body and long neck, and the music on this album exploits the instrument's rich sonority and capability for ornamentation rather than the rapid runs, called redobles in Spanish, that are characteristic of music for other plucked stringed instruments.

With a capaciously-filled boxset of a dozen CDs made up of attractive individual programmes and entitled The Spanish Guitar, Glossa reintroduces the superb playing of José Miguel Moreno. And with recordings from 1991-2004 which still sound fresh and vivid today. A new essay and all the sung texts are included in the physical booklet that completes this limited-edition set.

The acclaimed conductor and composer Salvador Brotons is renowned for his music for symphonic band. It was Rebroll (Rebirth), a symphonic poem in one movement inspired by contemporary events, which first earned him international recognition, and is performed worldwide. Symphony No. 6 ‘Concise’ charts a dramatic course between rhythmic dynamism, ceremonial grandeur and lyrical intimacy. Glosa de l’Emigrant is a nostalgic song cast as a sardana, the national dance of Catalonia, and features the beautiful sound of the tenora, a Catalan folk instrument. Brotons’ Symphony No. 5 and his Oboe Concerto can be heard on 8573163.

Antonio de Cabezón, “The Spanish Bach”, was among the most important composers of his time and the first major Iberian keyboard composer. Blind from childhood he was a musician at the court of Charles the V since 1526. HR Recordings is proud to present the complete recording of his keyboard music in several volumes performed by Javier Jiménez at some of the most beautiful Spanish historical organs.

When trumpeter Henry Moderlak came across a magnificent volume of sheet music entitled L’orgue baroque espagnol, which contained Spanish organ works from the 17th century, he made an interesting discovery: many of the motifs in the musical text reminded him of the trumpet literature of the time. Titles such as Piezas de Clarines referred to the special clarino stop of Spanish organs, which was used in instruments on the Iberian Peninsula in the 17th century: With horizontally arranged pipes, the so-called Spanish trumpets protruded from the organ case into the room and imitated the natural trumpet in shape and sound. What was striking, however, was that the passages in question used the ambitus and range of real natural trumpets – and could therefore actually be transferred to the trumpet: The idea for the «Proyecto Clarin» was born.

Jordi Savall & Hespèrion XX - Folias & Canarios (1994) {Astrée E 8516}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 247 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 132 Mb | Artwork | 5% repair rar
© 1994 Auvidis / Astrée | E 8516
Classical / Renaissance / Baroque

Savall and Hesperion XXI often return to the same material, almost obsessively; yet this repertory - the interface of early Iberian art music and the traditional - sustains endless re-visiting and re-interpretation; there can never be one definitive interpretation of this endlessly rewarding music, as Renaissance and Baroque composers knew - producing as they did endless variations on traditional themes which had woven their way from the popular sphere to the realm of 'art' music. Some of these bass melodies are presented here - the 'Follia' and 'Canaries' -and it is wonderful that Savall has the artistic freedom to perform versions of these again and again on his own label, Alia Vox.