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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
The book is admirable in its seven languages and its rather condensed vision of nearly 200 years of history, the two centuries that brought the Popes back to Rome and that started the Renaissance. One family is essential in this period and it is the Borgias coming from Moslem Spain and of course then in Rome and Italy. The most famous Borgia Pope, Alexander VI, had at least nine children and some are at as famous as he is, Cesare and Lucrezia among others.
Opening the first CD "Mowachah" is an Islamic music from Valencia that is going to fall. It is nostalgic of course because of the past glory and freedom it had and will not have any more. The new kings of Spain that are arriving are not interested in the Jews nor the Moslems and their only objective is to eradicate the two religions by eradicating all these heretical or infidel creatures of Satan. Their inquisition will loom famous and feared for quite a long time.
The Borgia in Rome they maintained the presence of the Jews in all fields where they could excel: music, literature, arts in general and the vast development of the economy of the Christian world to the profit first of all of the Popes who have conquered supreme power in Europe, crowning Emperors and European kings.
The 19th track of the first CD is a beautiful example of mixing cultures for the better and the best. The Ottoman Empire in the field of music and science has the same practice as the Borgia Popes: to attract the best from all over the world no matter what their faiths maybe. And the mixture can at times be amazingly beautiful.
Track 21 on the first CD, "Lamento per la morte du Lorenzo II Magnifico" is just superb and gives to that death and the mourning that comes with it a beauty that only death can hold, because in this family death is seen as a daily moment of life. Life is all the more heroic when death is no longer a menace but an event that has a sad taste afterward but is a common event that does not need any recalling from any one: life is bringing death all the time.
Track 22 on the first CD illustrates the expulsion of the Jews from Spain. A small Sephardic anonymous piece "La rosa enflorece". The song is so ambiguous in its tonalities that we looked for deeper meaning in Jewish symbolism. There is only one rose in the Ancient Testament, the Rose of Sharon in Salomon's Song of Song, a dramatic story of unrequited love and punished passion. But the song refers to two birds whose translations are not that pertinent. The three mourning birds in Isaiah and Jeremiah are the thrush (common name for a nightingale), the swift (common name for a swallow) and the dove, specified as a "mourning dove". The extreme sadness of the piece then is explained in its very symbols: suffering and punishing is God's tapering of our value.
The second CD is dedicated to the conquest of Church power in the hands of Alexander VI. And I will regret that we do not have the words of "Adonay", a Sephardic song from the synagogue on the second track.
The best track on this second CD definitely is the concluding "Valencia Sybil". Judgment Day should be in many ways rejoicing for many, and yet the song is a dirge descending into the darkness of some eternal hell. Servants will be paid on that day, but there seems to be no servants at all, or rather that the game is tricked: servants you are but you are by nature sinners. You have to be sinners and commit the worst crimes. That goes along with a period when people could envisage the worst crimes imaginable in the name of God. The Conquistador who had thousands of Aztecs amputated to death did that in the name of God but was forever a murderer. This Iberian faith states death is part of life and it is necessary for everyone to kill because it is the law of God and those who will have done it with wrong intentions or motivations will be eventually punished on Judgment Day. We forever carry a bundle of hellish crimes and sins. The key to that religion is the intercessor, Mary, and the leniency of God on Judgment Day. Otherwise we are all doomed.
The Sixth track of the third CD celebrates Jesus' birth with a vigorous dance around a bonfire and a maypole with a slightly dark vodun taste to it.
Track 13 "Alma, Buscarte has en mi" contains no joy at all and seems to be a long chant to a future that will not bring any happiness. It is nearly a vision of no hope: God or Jesus cannot be found anywhere outside myself, in myself. This introspective vision of God is announcing very sad events in a world where men are going to be governed by their inner gods.
Track16 adds to that descent into Hell the Turkish attack on Malta with an improvisation and a dance. But the sad atmosphere finds some joy in the blaring trumpets and bells of the victory of Lepanto. A short-lived respite before the Bartholomew's Day massacre occurs sending shivering horror in the whole of Europe. And then the expulsion of the Moors from Valencia will lead to more strife and suffering, to religious cleansing and genocide. We can just wonder if the canonization of Saint Francisco de Borja is not some kind of compensation, balm on the suffering history of the family, of Europe in general at that time. The music is so de-structured at times and so pathetic that we wonder if we are dealing with a real human world at that moment and if there will be any future to this social order.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU
Opening the first CD "Mowachah" is an Islamic music from Valencia that is going to fall. It is nostalgic of course because of the past glory and freedom it had and will not have any more. The new kings of Spain that are arriving are not interested in the Jews nor the Moslems and their only objective is to eradicate the two religions by eradicating all these heretical or infidel creatures of Satan. Their inquisition will loom famous and feared for quite a long time.
The Borgia in Rome they maintained the presence of the Jews in all fields where they could excel: music, literature, arts in general and the vast development of the economy of the Christian world to the profit first of all of the Popes who have conquered supreme power in Europe, crowning Emperors and European kings.
The 19th track of the first CD is a beautiful example of mixing cultures for the better and the best. The Ottoman Empire in the field of music and science has the same practice as the Borgia Popes: to attract the best from all over the world no matter what their faiths maybe. And the mixture can at times be amazingly beautiful.
Track 21 on the first CD, "Lamento per la morte du Lorenzo II Magnifico" is just superb and gives to that death and the mourning that comes with it a beauty that only death can hold, because in this family death is seen as a daily moment of life. Life is all the more heroic when death is no longer a menace but an event that has a sad taste afterward but is a common event that does not need any recalling from any one: life is bringing death all the time.
Track 22 on the first CD illustrates the expulsion of the Jews from Spain. A small Sephardic anonymous piece "La rosa enflorece". The song is so ambiguous in its tonalities that we looked for deeper meaning in Jewish symbolism. There is only one rose in the Ancient Testament, the Rose of Sharon in Salomon's Song of Song, a dramatic story of unrequited love and punished passion. But the song refers to two birds whose translations are not that pertinent. The three mourning birds in Isaiah and Jeremiah are the thrush (common name for a nightingale), the swift (common name for a swallow) and the dove, specified as a "mourning dove". The extreme sadness of the piece then is explained in its very symbols: suffering and punishing is God's tapering of our value.
The second CD is dedicated to the conquest of Church power in the hands of Alexander VI. And I will regret that we do not have the words of "Adonay", a Sephardic song from the synagogue on the second track.
The best track on this second CD definitely is the concluding "Valencia Sybil". Judgment Day should be in many ways rejoicing for many, and yet the song is a dirge descending into the darkness of some eternal hell. Servants will be paid on that day, but there seems to be no servants at all, or rather that the game is tricked: servants you are but you are by nature sinners. You have to be sinners and commit the worst crimes. That goes along with a period when people could envisage the worst crimes imaginable in the name of God. The Conquistador who had thousands of Aztecs amputated to death did that in the name of God but was forever a murderer. This Iberian faith states death is part of life and it is necessary for everyone to kill because it is the law of God and those who will have done it with wrong intentions or motivations will be eventually punished on Judgment Day. We forever carry a bundle of hellish crimes and sins. The key to that religion is the intercessor, Mary, and the leniency of God on Judgment Day. Otherwise we are all doomed.
The Sixth track of the third CD celebrates Jesus' birth with a vigorous dance around a bonfire and a maypole with a slightly dark vodun taste to it.
Track 13 "Alma, Buscarte has en mi" contains no joy at all and seems to be a long chant to a future that will not bring any happiness. It is nearly a vision of no hope: God or Jesus cannot be found anywhere outside myself, in myself. This introspective vision of God is announcing very sad events in a world where men are going to be governed by their inner gods.
Track16 adds to that descent into Hell the Turkish attack on Malta with an improvisation and a dance. But the sad atmosphere finds some joy in the blaring trumpets and bells of the victory of Lepanto. A short-lived respite before the Bartholomew's Day massacre occurs sending shivering horror in the whole of Europe. And then the expulsion of the Moors from Valencia will lead to more strife and suffering, to religious cleansing and genocide. We can just wonder if the canonization of Saint Francisco de Borja is not some kind of compensation, balm on the suffering history of the family, of Europe in general at that time. The music is so de-structured at times and so pathetic that we wonder if we are dealing with a real human world at that moment and if there will be any future to this social order.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3 reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Beautiful performances BUT...
6 Dec 2010
This exquisitely presented 3-SACD compilation, released to coincide with the 500th anniversary of the birth of Saint Francis Borgia (1510-72), the 4th Duke of Gandia, aims to chart the rise and fall of one of the most powerful European families through the music of their time, covering a period of over 6 centuries from the Moorish occupation of Valencia in 1063 to the canonisation of Saint Francis in 1670. En route, pieces by composers as significant as Binchois, Dufay, Josquin and Isaac are represented; so too are important Iberian composers (like Milà, Morales and Cabanilles) and works from many of the major Cancionero collections (Montecassino, Palacio, Calabria and Gandia), and there is even a Credo setting from a Mass allegedly by Saint Francis himself (CD 3, track 11). In addition, the 3 SACDs are accompanied by a bonus DVD, explaining how the project came about, and a beautiful 381 page book, which comes complete with detailed liner notes in 6 languages, song texts/translations, and several illustrations/facsimile reproductions. Lastly, the performances themselves are both varied and excellent, as one is accustomed to from Savall and his outstanding group.
So why only 3 stars...?
My only real gripe - although admittedly, for Savall enthusiasts at least, it is significant - concerns the large volume of reissued material from previous Savall discs. In fact, across the 3 CDs, this equates to more than an hour of music: 6 tracks taken from Alfons V el Magnànim: El Cancionero de Montecassino (Alia Vox AV9816 A + B), 4 tracks from Carlos V (Alia Vox AVSA9814), 2 tracks from Isabel I: Reina de Castilla (Alia Vox AVSA9838), 2 tracks from El Cancionero de Palacio, 1474-1516 (Auvidis Astrée E 8762), 2 tracks from Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quijote de la Mancha: Romances y Músicas [Hybrid SACD] (Alia Vox AVSA9843 A + B), and one track from each of the following CDs - Jerusalem (Alia Vox AVSA9863 A + B), Jeanne La Pucelle (Auvidis 'Travelling' K1006), Romances & Villancicos: Salamanca 1496 (Astrée Naïve ES 9925), Lux Feminae (Alia Vox AVSA9847), Christophorus Columbus: Paraísos Perdidos [Hybrid SACD] (Alia Vox AVSA9850) and, in the case of CD2 track 20, basically the complete 20 minute 'Sibil-la Valenciana' (with refrains by Càrceres and Alonso) which appeared on El Cant De La Sibilia 3 (Alia Vox AVSA9806). Furthermore, 2 of the narrative tracks (CD1 track 15 and CD 2 track 15) also have reissued material, with 2 pieces taken from 'El Cancionero de la Colombina, 1451-1506' (Auvidis Astrée E8763).
Alongside the above-mentioned duplicated tracks, there is also about another 30 minutes of music which, although newly recorded for this compilation, has actually appeared elsewhere on previous Savall CDs, some of it in near identical interpretations. Such examples include the performance of 'De tous biens plaine' on viols, CD 1 track 18 (c.f. with the version on 'Alfons V el Magnànim: El Cancionero de Montecassino', CD2, track 20), the extract 'Tau garcó la durundena' from Càrceres's ensalada 'La Trulla' on CD 3, track 6 (virtually the same as the interpretation on 'Villancicos & Ensaladas' [Auvidis Astrée E 8723]) and Juan Cabanilles's setting of 'Pange lingua' on CD3, track 22 (which differs from the performance on 'Joan Cabanilles: Batalles, Tientos & Passacalles' [Alia Vox AV9801] only in that voices intone the cantus firmus here).
In a nutshell, would it not have been better to make a programme which fitted onto 2 CDs (or even just a single CD) rather than create a 3-CD set which reissues so much material...?
In all, this WOULD make an exemplary introductory "portrait" CD set for newcomers to Savall, so if you haven't come across this group before, it is well worth buying. However, for those who already own most (or even some) of the above mentioned recordings, you may want to reconsider before investing in this compilation...either that, or wait until the download version becomes available and buy tracks unique to this release (most of which appear on CD2).
So why only 3 stars...?
My only real gripe - although admittedly, for Savall enthusiasts at least, it is significant - concerns the large volume of reissued material from previous Savall discs. In fact, across the 3 CDs, this equates to more than an hour of music: 6 tracks taken from Alfons V el Magnànim: El Cancionero de Montecassino (Alia Vox AV9816 A + B), 4 tracks from Carlos V (Alia Vox AVSA9814), 2 tracks from Isabel I: Reina de Castilla (Alia Vox AVSA9838), 2 tracks from El Cancionero de Palacio, 1474-1516 (Auvidis Astrée E 8762), 2 tracks from Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quijote de la Mancha: Romances y Músicas [Hybrid SACD] (Alia Vox AVSA9843 A + B), and one track from each of the following CDs - Jerusalem (Alia Vox AVSA9863 A + B), Jeanne La Pucelle (Auvidis 'Travelling' K1006), Romances & Villancicos: Salamanca 1496 (Astrée Naïve ES 9925), Lux Feminae (Alia Vox AVSA9847), Christophorus Columbus: Paraísos Perdidos [Hybrid SACD] (Alia Vox AVSA9850) and, in the case of CD2 track 20, basically the complete 20 minute 'Sibil-la Valenciana' (with refrains by Càrceres and Alonso) which appeared on El Cant De La Sibilia 3 (Alia Vox AVSA9806). Furthermore, 2 of the narrative tracks (CD1 track 15 and CD 2 track 15) also have reissued material, with 2 pieces taken from 'El Cancionero de la Colombina, 1451-1506' (Auvidis Astrée E8763).
Alongside the above-mentioned duplicated tracks, there is also about another 30 minutes of music which, although newly recorded for this compilation, has actually appeared elsewhere on previous Savall CDs, some of it in near identical interpretations. Such examples include the performance of 'De tous biens plaine' on viols, CD 1 track 18 (c.f. with the version on 'Alfons V el Magnànim: El Cancionero de Montecassino', CD2, track 20), the extract 'Tau garcó la durundena' from Càrceres's ensalada 'La Trulla' on CD 3, track 6 (virtually the same as the interpretation on 'Villancicos & Ensaladas' [Auvidis Astrée E 8723]) and Juan Cabanilles's setting of 'Pange lingua' on CD3, track 22 (which differs from the performance on 'Joan Cabanilles: Batalles, Tientos & Passacalles' [Alia Vox AV9801] only in that voices intone the cantus firmus here).
In a nutshell, would it not have been better to make a programme which fitted onto 2 CDs (or even just a single CD) rather than create a 3-CD set which reissues so much material...?
In all, this WOULD make an exemplary introductory "portrait" CD set for newcomers to Savall, so if you haven't come across this group before, it is well worth buying. However, for those who already own most (or even some) of the above mentioned recordings, you may want to reconsider before investing in this compilation...either that, or wait until the download version becomes available and buy tracks unique to this release (most of which appear on CD2).
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
The mirror of the dark side of the Renaissance
31 Jan 2011
The book is admirable in its seven languages and its rather condensed vision of nearly 200 years of history, the two centuries that brought the Popes back to Rome and that started the Renaissance. One family is essential in this period and it is the Borgias coming from Moslem Spain and of course then in Rome and Italy. The most famous Borgia Pope, Alexander VI, had at least nine children and some are at as famous as he is, Cesare and Lucrezia among others.
Opening the first CD "Mowachah" is an Islamic music from Valencia that is going to fall. It is nostalgic of course because of the past glory and freedom it had and will not have any more. The new kings of Spain that are arriving are not interested in the Jews nor the Moslems and their only objective is to eradicate the two religions by eradicating all these heretical or infidel creatures of Satan. Their inquisition will loom famous and feared for quite a long time.
The Borgia in Rome they maintained the presence of the Jews in all fields where they could excel: music, literature, arts in general and the vast development of the economy of the Christian world to the profit first of all of the Popes who have conquered supreme power in Europe, crowning Emperors and European kings.
The 19th track of the first CD is a beautiful example of mixing cultures for the better and the best. The Ottoman Empire in the field of music and science has the same practice as the Borgia Popes: to attract the best from all over the world no matter what their faiths maybe. And the mixture can at times be amazingly beautiful.
Track 21 on the first CD, "Lamento per la morte du Lorenzo II Magnifico" is just superb and gives to that death and the mourning that comes with it a beauty that only death can hold, because in this family death is seen as a daily moment of life. Life is all the more heroic when death is no longer a menace but an event that has a sad taste afterward but is a common event that does not need any recalling from any one: life is bringing death all the time.
Track 22 on the first CD illustrates the expulsion of the Jews from Spain. A small Sephardic anonymous piece "La rosa enflorece". The song is so ambiguous in its tonalities that we looked for deeper meaning in Jewish symbolism. There is only one rose in the Ancient Testament, the Rose of Sharon in Salomon's Song of Song, a dramatic story of unrequited love and punished passion. But the song refers to two birds whose translations are not that pertinent. The three mourning birds in Isaiah and Jeremiah are the thrush (common name for a nightingale), the swift (common name for a swallow) and the dove, specified as a "mourning dove". The extreme sadness of the piece then is explained in its very symbols: suffering and punishing is God's tapering of our value.
The second CD is dedicated to the conquest of Church power in the hands of Alexander VI. And I will regret that we do not have the words of "Adonay", a Sephardic song from the synagogue on the second track.
The best track on this second CD definitely is the concluding "Valencia Sybil". Judgment Day should be in many ways rejoicing for many, and yet the song is a dirge descending into the darkness of some eternal hell. Servants will be paid on that day, but there seems to be no servants at all, or rather that the game is tricked: servants you are but you are by nature sinners. You have to be sinners and commit the worst crimes. That goes along with a period when people could envisage the worst crimes imaginable in the name of God. The Conquistador who had thousands of Aztecs amputated to death did that in the name of God but was forever a murderer. This Iberian faith states death is part of life and it is necessary for everyone to kill because it is the law of God and those who will have done it with wrong intentions or motivations will be eventually punished on Judgment Day. We forever carry a bundle of hellish crimes and sins. The key to that religion is the intercessor, Mary, and the leniency of God on Judgment Day. Otherwise we are all doomed.
The Sixth track of the third CD celebrates Jesus' birth with a vigorous dance around a bonfire and a maypole with a slightly dark vodun taste to it.
Track 13 "Alma, Buscarte has en mi" contains no joy at all and seems to be a long chant to a future that will not bring any happiness. It is nearly a vision of no hope: God or Jesus cannot be found anywhere outside myself, in myself. This introspective vision of God is announcing very sad events in a world where men are going to be governed by their inner gods.
Track16 adds to that descent into Hell the Turkish attack on Malta with an improvisation and a dance. But the sad atmosphere finds some joy in the blaring trumpets and bells of the victory of Lepanto. A short-lived respite before the Bartholomew's Day massacre occurs sending shivering horror in the whole of Europe. And then the expulsion of the Moors from Valencia will lead to more strife and suffering, to religious cleansing and genocide. We can just wonder if the canonization of Saint Francisco de Borja is not some kind of compensation, balm on the suffering history of the family, of Europe in general at that time. The music is so de-structured at times and so pathetic that we wonder if we are dealing with a real human world at that moment and if there will be any future to this social order.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU
Opening the first CD "Mowachah" is an Islamic music from Valencia that is going to fall. It is nostalgic of course because of the past glory and freedom it had and will not have any more. The new kings of Spain that are arriving are not interested in the Jews nor the Moslems and their only objective is to eradicate the two religions by eradicating all these heretical or infidel creatures of Satan. Their inquisition will loom famous and feared for quite a long time.
The Borgia in Rome they maintained the presence of the Jews in all fields where they could excel: music, literature, arts in general and the vast development of the economy of the Christian world to the profit first of all of the Popes who have conquered supreme power in Europe, crowning Emperors and European kings.
The 19th track of the first CD is a beautiful example of mixing cultures for the better and the best. The Ottoman Empire in the field of music and science has the same practice as the Borgia Popes: to attract the best from all over the world no matter what their faiths maybe. And the mixture can at times be amazingly beautiful.
Track 21 on the first CD, "Lamento per la morte du Lorenzo II Magnifico" is just superb and gives to that death and the mourning that comes with it a beauty that only death can hold, because in this family death is seen as a daily moment of life. Life is all the more heroic when death is no longer a menace but an event that has a sad taste afterward but is a common event that does not need any recalling from any one: life is bringing death all the time.
Track 22 on the first CD illustrates the expulsion of the Jews from Spain. A small Sephardic anonymous piece "La rosa enflorece". The song is so ambiguous in its tonalities that we looked for deeper meaning in Jewish symbolism. There is only one rose in the Ancient Testament, the Rose of Sharon in Salomon's Song of Song, a dramatic story of unrequited love and punished passion. But the song refers to two birds whose translations are not that pertinent. The three mourning birds in Isaiah and Jeremiah are the thrush (common name for a nightingale), the swift (common name for a swallow) and the dove, specified as a "mourning dove". The extreme sadness of the piece then is explained in its very symbols: suffering and punishing is God's tapering of our value.
The second CD is dedicated to the conquest of Church power in the hands of Alexander VI. And I will regret that we do not have the words of "Adonay", a Sephardic song from the synagogue on the second track.
The best track on this second CD definitely is the concluding "Valencia Sybil". Judgment Day should be in many ways rejoicing for many, and yet the song is a dirge descending into the darkness of some eternal hell. Servants will be paid on that day, but there seems to be no servants at all, or rather that the game is tricked: servants you are but you are by nature sinners. You have to be sinners and commit the worst crimes. That goes along with a period when people could envisage the worst crimes imaginable in the name of God. The Conquistador who had thousands of Aztecs amputated to death did that in the name of God but was forever a murderer. This Iberian faith states death is part of life and it is necessary for everyone to kill because it is the law of God and those who will have done it with wrong intentions or motivations will be eventually punished on Judgment Day. We forever carry a bundle of hellish crimes and sins. The key to that religion is the intercessor, Mary, and the leniency of God on Judgment Day. Otherwise we are all doomed.
The Sixth track of the third CD celebrates Jesus' birth with a vigorous dance around a bonfire and a maypole with a slightly dark vodun taste to it.
Track 13 "Alma, Buscarte has en mi" contains no joy at all and seems to be a long chant to a future that will not bring any happiness. It is nearly a vision of no hope: God or Jesus cannot be found anywhere outside myself, in myself. This introspective vision of God is announcing very sad events in a world where men are going to be governed by their inner gods.
Track16 adds to that descent into Hell the Turkish attack on Malta with an improvisation and a dance. But the sad atmosphere finds some joy in the blaring trumpets and bells of the victory of Lepanto. A short-lived respite before the Bartholomew's Day massacre occurs sending shivering horror in the whole of Europe. And then the expulsion of the Moors from Valencia will lead to more strife and suffering, to religious cleansing and genocide. We can just wonder if the canonization of Saint Francisco de Borja is not some kind of compensation, balm on the suffering history of the family, of Europe in general at that time. The music is so de-structured at times and so pathetic that we wonder if we are dealing with a real human world at that moment and if there will be any future to this social order.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU
Love this music...please offer as MP3s...
7 Mar 2012
I've discovered this music on Pandora, and so far, I'm enjoying it immensely. It is music for the true music lover. The only thing, is that I cannot afford the price tag of this original and apparently limited edition set. Why can this not be re-released or at least offered as an MP3 album. I'm not sure which record company released this, but I hope they consider offering these songs for download.
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