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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
These recordings, comprising 108 minutes of music, date from November 1975 and were originally issued on landmark early music LPs. The first CD divides 24 tracks into five sections of court music and songs (villancicos, romances and receradas) while the second disc offers 12 Sephardic romances, Jordi Savall and Hespèrion XX exploring a repertoire they have returned to again and again. The playing is tightly focused (instruments range from Savall's own viola da gamba through lute, percussion, recorder and bagpipe). Soprano Montserrat Figueras is in fine voice and the sound is very good. What is disappointing is the lack of texts both in Spanish and translation. However, the set makes a fascinating companion to Diáspora Sefardí where, almost a quarter of a century later, Savall and Figueras and an otherwise entirely new Hespèrion XXI present a new 2-CD set of Jewish song and instrumental music from the same period, even revisiting several of the same pieces. This more recent set is the better album, but anyone seriously interested in this music will surely want to own both. --Gary S Dalkin
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I didn't know what to expect from this disc, but I was pleasantly surprised at how 'listenable' it is. The music has a Middle Eastern quality about it, which isn't surprising, but I was surprised at the variety and subtlety of the music. Some of it was happy boisterous music that conjures up whirling, laughing dancers, but some of it is quite thoughtful, almost melancholic and haunting. One of those discs to choose when you can't decide what you want to listen to. Don't be put off by the title.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Love this music which tends to be much under-appreciated: Curiously non-religious sounding, a bit like the way ANYONE would appreciate the St Matthew Mass or Mozart's Requiem
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
8 reviews
24 of 26 people found the following review helpful
Historical re-release
20 July 1999
Format:Audio CD
Hesperion XX were pioneers in reviving this music, and collectors will value these recordings which first came out in 1976. However most listeners may prefer more recent recordings by Wimmer on Naxos, and Alia Musica on Harmonia Mundi which have digital sound and include Spanish, and occasionally Hebrew, texts and translations.
15 of 18 people found the following review helpful
A balm for any soul
2 Jan 2001
Format:Audio CD
Attempting to review a Savall/Figueras CD is a frustrating task. The arsenal of superlatives is so quickly depleted. Terms like 'matchless' and 'unique' might be used, but lack strict definition. After all, a 'matchless' voice needn't be a good one. Terms like 'divine' or 'angelic' tend to remove Montserrat's singing from the real and human. She's nothing if not human. Having been blessed with watching as well as hearing her perform, vouching for her vitality on a stage is easy. But the superior quality of her voice and presentation is so far above the mundane or common as to become nearly indescribable. Anything less than adulation for her seems to indicate shortcomings in the disk or performer. Neither performance nor disk quality falls short here. That she performs religious songs here simply adds to the power of her impact on the listener. You necessarily hesitate, cease other activity, and, if moved enough, drop to your knees in respect and admiration. Tough to do in a crowded concert hall, but the motivation is there. And this from someone who shunned listening to vocal performances for many years. Dame Kiri was one exception and Argenta another, but the discovery of Figueras was the discovery of a voice without flaw.
Anyone visiting this page must certainly know of Jordi Savall and Hesperion XX. You may, however, have missed the glory of Montserrat Figueras' voice. Make up for that lack right away. The selections available here are pitifully limited, but this CD is as good an introduction as any. Don't hesitate to sit and enjoy this music. The sounds received will be a reward to whatever spiritual sense you possess.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Five Stars Despite the Lack of Documentation (and the Cheap Fragile Plastic CD Tray)
18 Dec 2007
Format:Audio CD
Music from Christian and Jewish Spain. CD 1: Court Music and Songs from the Age of Discovery 1492 - 1553. (Songs and instrumental pieces from the Cancionera de Colombina, the Canconiero de Palacio and the Cancionero de Uppsala plus three Recercadas by Ortiz). CD 2: Sephardic Romances from the Age before the expulsion of the Jews from Spain 1492. Performed by Hespèrion XX (= Montserrat Figueras, soprano; Jordi Savall, violas da gamba and bowed Saracen chitarra; Hopkinson Smith, lute and Saracen chitarra; Lorenzo Alpert, recorder and percussion; Arianne Maurette and Pere Ros, violas da gamba; Pilar Figueras, bagpipes; Gabriel Garrido, percussion). Recorded in November 1975 at the Münstermuseum in Basel, Switzerland. Total playing time: 1 hr 48 mins 25 secs. Re-released in 1999 as Virgin Veritas 561 591 2.
Montserrat Figueras has been described by a professional German music critic as the "Maria Callas of Early Music" because of the intensity and expressiveness of her interpretations. She has developed over the years a specifically Spanish way of performing early Iberian repertoire, and even on this comparatively early analogue recording from 1975 (now quite carefully digitally re-mastered with only a minimum of extraneous noise) what you get to hear is absolutely unmistakeably Spanish, including the Moorish influences that even a layman probably associates with this period. Figueras does not only sing here, she declaims, she shouts, she rejoices, she dances with her voice, negotiating, particularly on the second of the two CDs (the Sephardic Song), some incredibly difficult rhythms and what sound to me like semi- and quarter-tones, giving the whole an amazingly Oriental feeling without ever seeming to be forced. This is re-inforced by the instrumental accompaniments, which, I assume, were worked out by the group as the notation of this music is presumably very sparse (as is the case with most very early music). At any rate, whether it is the slightly more European sounding "Christian" Spanish music of the Age of Columbus or the passionate world of Sephardic song, the whole performance breathes dedication, identification with the music, absolute musicality and the spirit of discovery which has brought the early music or HIPP scene to the fore over the past decades. The music here is so wonderful that, in combination with EMI's excellent recordings, it balances out somewhat the complete lack of documentation (no texts and an introduction which is hardly worth the name and is beggared even by the average Naxos folded card) and the fact that Virgin use cheap plastic CD trays which break at the first opportunity. After listening to this I went on to buy Montserrat Figueras's recording of Marin's "Tonos Humanos" on Alia Vox (Jordi Savall's own label).
Montserrat Figueras has been described by a professional German music critic as the "Maria Callas of Early Music" because of the intensity and expressiveness of her interpretations. She has developed over the years a specifically Spanish way of performing early Iberian repertoire, and even on this comparatively early analogue recording from 1975 (now quite carefully digitally re-mastered with only a minimum of extraneous noise) what you get to hear is absolutely unmistakeably Spanish, including the Moorish influences that even a layman probably associates with this period. Figueras does not only sing here, she declaims, she shouts, she rejoices, she dances with her voice, negotiating, particularly on the second of the two CDs (the Sephardic Song), some incredibly difficult rhythms and what sound to me like semi- and quarter-tones, giving the whole an amazingly Oriental feeling without ever seeming to be forced. This is re-inforced by the instrumental accompaniments, which, I assume, were worked out by the group as the notation of this music is presumably very sparse (as is the case with most very early music). At any rate, whether it is the slightly more European sounding "Christian" Spanish music of the Age of Columbus or the passionate world of Sephardic song, the whole performance breathes dedication, identification with the music, absolute musicality and the spirit of discovery which has brought the early music or HIPP scene to the fore over the past decades. The music here is so wonderful that, in combination with EMI's excellent recordings, it balances out somewhat the complete lack of documentation (no texts and an introduction which is hardly worth the name and is beggared even by the average Naxos folded card) and the fact that Virgin use cheap plastic CD trays which break at the first opportunity. After listening to this I went on to buy Montserrat Figueras's recording of Marin's "Tonos Humanos" on Alia Vox (Jordi Savall's own label).
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