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Ministriles Reales - Savall

Ministriles Reales - Savall

Alia Vox  AVSA9864A+B (2 discs)

Stereo/Multichannel Hybrid

Classical


"Ministriles Reales (Royal Minstrels)" Josquin des Prés, Clement Janequin, Orlando di Lasso, Antonio de Cabezón, Diego Ortiz, Lluís del Milà, F. Correa de Arrauxo et. al.

Hespèrion XX & XXI
Jordi Savall (direction)


This beautiful set gathers for the first time Spanish and French instrumental dances from the XVIth and XVIIth Centuries scattered as 'interludes' in many Astrée and Alia Vox existing releases. It is a definitive overview of this repertoire and enables us to realise just how beautiful and irresistible this music can be. Given electric performances and virile repertoire, the Royal Minstrels offer uplifting experiences. Deluxe packaging and beautiful artwork as you would expect from Alia Vox...

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Tracks
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I. Villancicos y Danzas de Altas y Baixas 1450 - 1530

I
1. La Spagna (basse dance). Anónimo (CMM).
2. Dit le Bourguynon. Anónimo.
3. Quedate, Carillo (villancico). Juan del Enzina.
4. De tous biens plaine (Chanson). H. van Ghizeghem (CMM).
5. Collinetto. Anónimo.

II
6. In Exitu Israel. Anónimo (CMCo).
7. Basse danse: Mappa mundi. Johannes Cornago.
8. Chiave, chiave (toccata instrumental). Anónimo (CMM).
9. Pues con sombra de tristura (villancico). Enrique (CMCo).
10. Buenas nuevas de alegría (villancico). Anónimo (CMCo).
11. Si de vos mi bien (villancico). Anónimo (CMCa).

III
12. El cervel mi fa. Anónimo (CMP)
13. Mundus Et Musica (Canon Perpetuum). Ramos de Pareja.
14. Glosa sobre “Nunca fue pena mayor”. Belmonte (CMCo).
15. No tenga nadie sperança (villancico). H. de Xerés (CMCo).
16. Muy triste será mi vida (villancico). Juan Urrede (CMCo).

IV
17. Propinan de Melyor. Anónimo (CMCo)
18. Fantasia. Anónimo (CMM)
19. Danza alta. Francisco de la Torre (CMP).

V
20. Estas noches a tan largas (villancico). Anónimo (CMCa).
21. O desdichado de mi (villancico). Garci Sánchez de Badajoz.

VI
22. Ave color vini clari. Juan Ponçe (CMP).
23. A sombra de mis cabellos. Gabriel (CMP).
24. Quien vos dio tal señorío? (villancico). J. de Triana (CMCo).

VII
25. Un niño nos es nacido (villancico). Anónimo (CMCa).
26. Viva el gran Re Don Fernando. Carlo Verardi.
27. Vive le Roy. Josquin des Prés.
28. La Spagna, a 5. Josquin des Prés.

II. Fantasías, Diferencias y Batallas 1530 - 1690

I
1. Mortal tristura me dieron (villancico). Juan del Enzina.
2. Diferencias sobre las vacas. Anónimo (CMMe).
3. Pavana “La Battaglia” per sonar. Clement Janequin.
4. La Moresca. Pedro Guerrero (CMMe).

II
5. Passamezzo Moderno III, 1553.Diego Ortiz.
6. Romanesca VII. Diego Ortiz
7. Tiento III Primer tono. Antonio de Cabezón.
8. Glosas sobre “Hermosa Catalina”. Francisco Guerrero.

III
9. O voy. Román.
10. Buelbe tus claros ojos (villancico). Anónimo (CMMe).
11. Diferencias sobre “La Dama le demanda”. A. de Cabezón.
12. « Susana un jur » (Glosa). H. de Cabezón (CMMe).

IV
13. Pavana - Gallarda. Lluís del Milà.
14. Fantasía VIII. Lluís del Milà
15. Jam lucis orto sidere. Orlando di Lasso.
16. Ensalada. S. Aguilera de Heredia.

V
17. Himno XVI. Antonio de Cabezón (CMMe.
18. Batalla de Morales. F. Correa de Arrauxo.

VI
19. Omnes de Saba venient. Orlando di Lasso.
20. Tiento de Batalla. S. Aguilera de Heredia.

VII
21. Alme Deus, qui cuncta tenes. Orlando di Lasso.
22. Batalla Imperial. Joan Cabanilles / (J.C. Kerll).
Reviews (1)
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Review by John Miller - April 17, 2009

The release in the early 1970's of David Munrow's extremely popular 'Two Renaissance Dance Bands' was a landmark in the period instrument music discography. It recreated performances of Elizabethan outdoor wind and percussion bands comprised of so-called "loud" instruments and contrasted them with the mainly string and recorder "quiet" groups used for indoor music-making. The English of Shakespeare's time were very partial to pungent and buzzy winds, such as racketts, crumhorns and regals. As Jordi Savall demonstrates on this compilation, the equivalent instruments used on the Iberian Peninsula during the same period were somewhat different, partly owing to a the prevailing Moorish influence. However, the Iberian court Minstrels (the name originated in Spain) also played in similar "loud" and "soft" bands as required.

These two discs have been meticulously compiled from the pioneering musical work and scholarship of Savall's ensembles, Hespèrion XX (1978-1999) and its evolution Hespèrion XXI (2000-2004). Stereo masters have been supplied with subtle but effective and convincing rear and centre channels for the 5.0 multichannel tracks, and this adds a realistic 3-dimensional feature to the attractive warm ambience of these recordings. It is a tribute to the high quality of masters, consistency of recording techniques and venue selection over this period that, even with careful listening on loudspeakers, I was unable to detect any significant differences between the oldest and newest tracks. The sound is immediate, with a dazzling array of vibrant instrumental colours which are a delightful feature of these unfamiliar instruments. Recording dates are not noted for individual tracks, but an indication is given for most of them consisting of "HXX" or "HXX1", so with a little detective work I found that on Disc One there are only a minimum of 5 tracks from the more recent group, and on Disc Two only a minimum of 2 tracks. My ears, however, were telling me that all the tracks had sound quality typical of recent SACDs.

The musical performances represent the best in ongoing scholarship, bearing in mind the paucity of source manuscripts and a great lack of information about performance practice. The musicians are all experts, and well-known names leap off the booklet's pages: Savalli, of course, Christoph Coin, Ton Koopman, Andrew-Lawrence King and many others. Music selected for the 50 tracks is representative of the period; in turns toe-tapping, ceremonial, romantic, sombre, brilliant and eloquent. Rhythmic lift and support is given by a variety of simple percussion instruments including a very deep bass drum. I had no difficulty listening to each disc all through, period fatigue never becoming a problem.

Disc One covers the period 1450-1530, with loud and soft bands intermingled within groups of tracks. The first track is the popular dance La Spagna, which stormed through Europe and was still the source of variations written even in the late Baroque. Indeed, the disc ends with a 6-part rendition of La Spagna from Josquin des Prés. Most of the composers, however are Anon, and the style is often pleasingly rustic, very energetic and also reflects the strong Moorish influences of the time.

Disc Two moves further into Spain's Golden Age, spanning 1530-1690. An increase in the influx of composers from the Low Countries reflects Spain's aquisition of these territories, and the court music becomes notably more sophisticated. Many of the great Iberian cathedrals employed numbers of "loud" minstrels whose wind instruments accompanied, substituted or replaced voices in the fashionable church polyphony, so a number of motets are presented in their instrumental colours. Observant listeners might spot that Track 3, La Battaglia, also appeared on the Munrow disc, having mutated a little on its journey north (or south!). Several other rumbustious mock-battle pieces reflect the popularity of this genre.

The four-fold Digipak is resplendent with coloured photos of contemporary paintings, as customary with AliaVox. Its thick slip out booklet has a neat contextual account of the historical instruments in Castillian, French, English, Catalan, German and Italian. There are also some photos of music MS pages, indicating what difficulties there are in translating their notation into performance. My only difficulty was in finding out which instruments were playing on a track; rather obliquely, only performers are listed for each track, so one has to go to the list of instruments and compare each list of player's names.

Here is a mouth-watering feast of Spanish delights, a uniquely evocative way of putting yourself in touch with Spain's Golden Age like no other, not even surveying the visual art of the time.

Copyright © 2009 John Miller and HRAudio.net

Performance:

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Sonics (Multichannel):

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Musicas Reales, Vol IV