Glosa

Sophie Yates’s 1993 debut CD offered a fine selection of French Baroque harpsichord music. For this second disc she has turned her attention south to Spain and Portugal and back to the 16th as well as 17th century. The repertoire, though less familiar, is certainly attractive – delightful examples of tiento and diferencias by Cabezón; Coelho’s compelling Segunda Susana; the ornate traceries of Ximénez and Cabanilles. And all played with a graceful eloquence that is quietly impressive.

Jordi Savall & Hesperion XX - Espana Antigua - Spanish Secular Music c.1200-1700 (2001) {8CD Virgin Classics}
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© 1976-1986, 2001 Virgin Classics / EMI | 7243 5 61964 2 1
Classical / Early Music / World Music / Renaissance / Baroque / Medieval / Chamber Music

This box set comprises eight discs recorded by the remarkable Jordi Savall with his wife Montserrat Figueras and the wonderful Hespèrion XX. They span a period of ten or so years from 1976 were originally issued on LP by Virgin Classics. Since those days Savall’s performances have matured and grown in confidence but one can still easily recognize the brains behind the outfit and the sound-world he wanted to create. Later he moved to Auvidis Astrée and in more recent times has set up his own label - Alia Vox - where he really has been set loose. He has produced discs with superb documentation which have investigated many forgotten corners of medieval and Renaissance music which quite often we never even knew existed.

Jordi Savall & Hespèrion XXI - Altre Follie, 1500-1750 (2005) {Alia Vox AVSA9844}
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© 2005 Alia Vox | AVSA 9844
Classical / Renaissance / Baroque / Chamber Music

Throughout the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, as the new, centralized power of the absolute state was established in most European nations, royal courts all over Europe became the very heart of cultural and artistic life in their respective countries. They assembled an elite of aristocratic courtiers who were expected to master the principles of poetry, dance and vocal and instrumental music, as much as they were supposed to follow a strict and complex etiquette in all aspects of daily social interaction, adopt a luxurious and ever-changing fashion code, or sustain a refined conversation with a lady.

Jordi Savall & Hespèrion XX - Moyen Âge & Renaissance - Middle ages & renaissance (1997) {Fontalis Auvidis ES 9904}
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© 1997 Fontalis / Auvidis France | ES 9904
Classical / Medieval / Renaissance

This disc consists of 22 landmark selections from Hesperion XX's various programs of music of the 12th to 14th centuries. Notable composers represented: Alfonso X El Sabio, Guillame Dufay, Eustache Du Caurroy, Orlando Lasso, Francisco Guerrero, Christopher Tye and Cristobal De Morales; several anonymous works included also.

Jordi Savall & Hesperion XX - Music For The Spanish Kings (2001) {2CD Set Virgin 7243 5 61875 2 8 rec 1983}
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© 1983, 2001 Virgin / EMI | 7243 5 61875 2 8
Classical / Renaissance / 15th & 16th Century Spanish Music

Like the Renaissance itself, Music for the Spanish Kings begins with a strutting fanfare and ends with a melancholic sigh. Attaining his usual high standards, Jordi Savall has fashioned a poignant and varied musical portrait of the century encompassing the reigns of three Spanish kings: Alphonso I (1442-58), Ferdinand I (1458-94), and Charles V (1516-56). Montserrat Figueras' rich mezzo-soprano voice carries over half the pieces on the first disc. Her stunning vibrato imparts a troupadour's sadness to the cancions.