Savall Celtic

Jordi Savall & Andrew Lawrence-King - The Celtic Viol (2009) {Alia Vox AVSA 9865}
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© 2009 Alia Vox | AVSA 9865
Classical / Chamber Music / Celtic / World

Thanks to in-depth research into original manuscripts, Jordi Savall reveals the hidden beauties of Irish and Scottish music from 17th to 19th Century. The transcription from fiddle to baroque viol sounds so obvious that everyone realizes the closeness of traditional and ancient repertoires at once. Some of the pieces are irresistibly vivid and virtuosic, some are more melancholic-but all of them deserve the renasissance Jordi Savall offers them in this collection, where he partners with harp virtuoso Andrew Lawrence-King.

Jordi Savall, Andrew Lawrence-King, Frank McGuire - The Celtic Viol II (2010) {Alia Vox AVSA 9878}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 428 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 178 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 115 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2010 Alia Vox | AVSA 9878 | DSD mastering
Classical / Chamber Music / Celtic / World / Baroque

In this sequel to their 2009 recording, Jordi Savall and Andrew Lawrence-King are joined by Frank McGuire, bodhrán (Irish frame drum) maker and player. The repertoire is a mixture of traditional Irish and Scottish folk music with some tunes published or dating from the 18th to 20th centuries. Savall has grouped them into sets, each a suite of dances and character pieces, and each performed in a single key at modern pitch.

This record does have some limitations. In his accompanying comments, Savall notes the survival and vitality of oral transmission in Irish and Scottish music. Yet he has chosen many of his selections for this album from published collections which themselves filtered, altered, sanitized and 'improved' the oral tradition for a bourgeois audience increasingly interested in the music of 'the people'.

Thanks to in-depth researches on original manuscripts, Jordi Savall reveals the hidden beauties of Irish and Scottish music from the 17th to 19th centuries.The transcription from fiddle to treble baroque viol sounds so obvious that everyone realises the closeness of traditional and ancient repertoires immediately. Most of the pieces are irresistibly vivid and virtuoso, some are more melancholy, but all of them deserve the renaissance Jordi Savall offers them in his customary, masterly manner. And… for the first time in Alia Vox history, the cover art features a photo of Jordi Savall.

This album is organised in seven sets and enables us to discover many sides of a repertoire Jordi Savall explores with the steadiest and most respectful hand.

Galician piper Carlos Núñez is one of the world’s main exponents of Celtic music, a genre that he defends and has studied at great depth. For 30 years he has collaborated with The Chieftains (Ireland), Alan Stivell (Brittany), Capercaillie, Phil Cunningham, Julie Fowlis (Scotland)… but also Jackson Browne, Ry Cooder (USA), Milton Nascimento (Brazil), Gustavo Santaolalla (Argentina), Ryuichi Sakamoto (Japan), Jordi Savall (Catalonia), Bryn Terfel (Wales), or even Julio Iglesias.

The Martin Hayes Quartet expands on many of the musical ideas pursued by Martin in his longstanding partnership with Dennis Cahill. The melody still remains central but now with an added range of sonic possibilities provided by the bass clarinet and viola d'amore. The addition of these instruments creates an added aural texture and amplifies the rhythmic possibilities while also allowing a larger role for improvisation. Both Doug and Liz bring a wealth of musical experience that contributes to the spacious, rich arrangements of the Quartet.

Isabelle de Spoelberch was born into a family where music plays an important role in everyday life. During her childhood she fell in love with the harp and started cultivating a deep fascination with Celtic traditions and medieval music. She took harp lessons with Arianna Savall and Robin Huw Bowen and studied instrument making at the Fachschule für Streich und Zupfinstrumentbau in Hallstatt, Austria.

On her debut double album, the Celtic harp is the common thread through a journey of discovery along different roads and cultures. New compositions and traditional music are alternated with long improvisations in which the harpist enters into a dialogue with the Armenian duduk, the Turkish saz or the Persian tombak. The music of 'Appel à la Source' pays tribute to what music from different corners of the world 'à la source' have in common. Isabelle de Spoelberch is inspired by Scandinavian mythology, shamanism, the four elements of nature, Eastern mysticism and the ancestral tradition of wandering singer-poets in Anatolia, Bengal and Senegal. All these influences are interwoven in a richly varied and mysterious album on which twelve guest musicians from seven different countries have contributed.

Is it fair for baroque to sound so sensual? An elegiac soprano voice wafts above an instrumental piece by Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger. Flamenco rhythms underpin a passacaglia. Then suddenly we hear the typical harmonies and ornaments of Celtic folk music. Is that how this music really sounded in Italy in the early 1600s? Of course not. But what the Norwegian lutenist and guitarist Rolf Lislevand and his six colleagues bring off on Nuove musiche, their début album for ECM, has all the earmarks of a manifesto.