Yr a oydo - Monteverdi, Strozzi, Pandolfi-Meali, Ortiz, Cabezon, ...

Cabezon, Antonio de, Monteverdi, Claudio, Ortiz, Diego, Pandolfi Mealli, Giovanni Antonio, różni kompozytorzy, Strozzi, Barbara

Alqhai, Fahmi, Andueza, Raquel, More Hispano, Parrilla, Vicente

CD 16279

IN the early days of the period-instrument boom listeners became accustomed to looking to London, Amsterdam, Brussels and Basel for the latest innovations and the hottest recordings. When an American version of this scene sprouted, it was built on the traditions fostered mainly by English and Dutch musicians, with whom young American lutenists, harpsichordists and string players had studied. • But all the while an alternative early-music universe was developing in Spain, where players schooled in old instruments and techniques were more fascinated by the improvisatory and genre-hopping possibilities the music presented. The inventive, sometimes zany recordings by Gregorio Paniagua and Atrium Musicae de Madrid were an early hint of this approach, and Jordi Savall, if not as freewheeling as Mr. Paniagua, shared his open-minded approach to orchestration and program building. • More Hispano, a group from Seville led by Vicente Parilla, has a clear spiritual kinship with Mr. Paniagua’s outfit. The centerpiece of “Yr a Oydo” (“Going by Ear” in old Spanish), with works by Strozzi, Cabezón, Attaingnant, Monteverdi and others, is a version of “Folías” that yokes together variations by several composers as well as imaginative improvisations on this once ubiquitous chord progression: an approach Mr. Paniagua pioneered at full-album length on “La Folia” (Harmonia Mundi) in 1982. • Whereas for most period-instrument bands improvisation means judiciously adding ornaments, Mr. Parilla and company go all out. Raquel Andueza sings the vocal pieces with an appealing, earthy and almost vibrato-free tone and adds inventive vocalise to some of the instrumental workouts. Álvaro Garrido’s vigorous percussion underpinnings have a world-music quality that suits these works. And Mr. Parilla, on recorder, takes turns with the other instrumentalists elaborating on the composers’ melodies, often adding modal touches and varying the rhythms, much as a virtuosic jazz band would do with a group of standards. ALLAN KOZINN

CD x 1

Carpe Diem Records

25/08/2010

4032324162795

ICMA 'Nominee' (2012)