The CANTIGAS FROM OVERSEAS form part of Pneuma's project to record a retrospective of the entire collection of the Cantigas (medieval monophonic song) de Alfonso X and continue to explore the theme of miracles in the Eastern Mediterranean, completing CDs PN880 Cantigas of Byzantium, PN-1490 Cantigas of Rome, PN-1510 Cantigas of Alexandria and the future CD Cantigas of Jerusalem. Stories unfolding in Constantinople and Christian Syria, Rome and the Byzantine Empire (wise hermits and the Sufis from the East), give the impression of a travel novel packed with mystic teaching.
Alfons X, Alphonse X or Alfonso X (23 November 1221 – 4 April 1284), called the Wise (Spanish: el Sabio), was the King of Castile, León and Galicia from 30 May 1252 until his death. During the Imperial election of 1257, a dissident faction chose him to be King of the Romans (Latin: Rex Romanorum; German: Römisch-deutscher König) on 1 April. He renounced his imperial claim in 1275, and in creating an alliance with England in 1254 his claim on Gascony also.
Acclaimed pianist Javier Negrin returns to Odradek with a recital album particularly close to his heart: the complete piano music of Spanish composer Armando Alfonso, his teacher and collaborator for many years, including world-premiere recordings.
Music for Alfonso the Wise by redoubtable English period instrument ensemble the Dufay Collective is not a collection of usual suspect Cantigas de Santa Maria, but attempts to re-create the lost heritage of the secular music that surrounded Alfonso X's court during his reign. Utilizing instruments reconstructed from miniatures, paintings, and other iconography dating from Alfonso's time, the Dufay Collective relies on music found within the Cantigas, manuscript sources outside it, remaining old musical practices still held over in "world music," and its own inventiveness to create an album that nonetheless smacks of authenticity.