Jose Marichan

Their previous release on BIS – Carmen Symphony, BIS-CD-1305 – was given the Latin GRAMMY award for "Best Classical Album of 2004". Now José Serebrier and the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra return with another disc on Latin themes. This time it is South America, where José Serebrier hails from, which has provided the inspiration. Original compositions by Stravinsky, Barber, Weill and Serebrier himself are complemented by orchestral adaptations of tangos by Satie (Tango Perpétuel) and Piazzolla among others.

The last decade or so has seen the blossoming of a new generation of vocal talents from Spain, many of whom have been expressing their art through early music. A leading figure in this artistic array has been the soprano Nuria Rial, a singer blessed with an unaffected declamatory style, sweet and yet intimate in its emotional charm. In recent years the career of Rial has seen her tackle with success music by Bach, Handel, Mozart, Haydn, as well as Pergolesi and much Italian seicento repertoire. This newly-prepared Glossa album turns the clock back to collect together recordings made by the fresh voice of the Catalonian soprano in the years immediately following her studies at the Musik-Akademie in Basel.

Portugal doesn't get much credit for seemingly any of her accomplishments, but they are substantial, particularly in art. These absolutely lovely violin sonatas from two composers who worked in the 20th century not only rectify this oversight, they add unquestionably to an already rich violin repertoire. Monteiro and Santos have had my attention for quite some time now, this 2010 release is simply another success in a line of great releases. I've admired their artistry, but it really is a treat to hear them in music that is so clearly close to them.

This collection of music for guitar, brought together by Jose Luis Bieito as the musical element of his music+image binomis, Reflections, possesses a delightful balance of sounds. These are flowing, pulsing, mostly gentle sounds that tend to soothe and calm the listener's mind. Sounds that - through a variety of compositional techniques - tend to be sustained in time; the effects of which can sometimes capture a listener’s attention, holding it inside an extended musical moment, like a spell. When heard while viewing the accompanying (provocative, sometimes disturbing) images, the sounds can serve an additional function: grounding the listener's reaction, enabling the passage of emotion; like electricity discharging through a lightening rod.

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.

Based on an epic poem by Niccolò Forteguerri and set in the times of the Crusades, Ricciardo e Zoraide is a drama full of infatuations and jealousy, imprisonment and murderous plots, concluding with a gallant rescue and a benevolent outcome. The problems of such a complex and intense libretto were solved by Rossini through sheer dramatic skill, sophisticated melodic inventiveness, an emphasis on contrasts between dark and light, and the innovative and extensive use of on-stage musicians. This rarely heard opera is a true bel canto feast that reinvents the long tradition of chivalrous tales that still fascinate us today.