| |
Concert reviews |
| |
|
| Novedad y calidad
(Novelty and quality) |
| |
La Vanguardia, 17/03/08 |
| El triunfo de La Paz
(The Triumph of Peace) |
| |
La Tribuna de Cuenca, 16/3/08 |
| La Paz Universal.
Escena de gourmet (Universal peace or The Iris and the
Lilly. A scene fit for gourmets) |
| |
El Día de Cuenca, 16/3/08 |
| |
La "decadencia"
del XVII español (The "Decadence"
of the Spanish 17th Century) |
| |
|
Diario de Sevilla, 13/04/2006 |
| |
Ilusiones contagiosas
(Infectious Enthusiasm) |
| |
|
Goldberg, no. 33, April 2005, p. 3. |
|
|
| |
El capitán maestro
(Captain & Maestro) |
| |
|
Scherzo, no. 196, April 2005, p. 36. |
|
|
| |
Cervantes, descanse en paz
(Cervantes, Rest in Peace) |
| |
|
Ritmo, no. 774, April 2005, p. 31 |
|
|
| |
Entre aventuras y encantamientos
(Amid Adventures and Enchantment) |
| |
|
El País, 01/03/2005 |
|
| |
Resurrección
(Resurrection) |
| |
|
El País, 20/02/2005 |
| |
|
|
| |
Cd reviews |
| |
|
|
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Antonio Rodríguez de Hita:
Canciones instrumentales |
| |
|
Goldberg Magazine, no. 44, February 2007, p.102. |
| |
|
Avui. Cultura i Espectacles, 04/02/2007 |
| |
|
ABC. ABCD de las Artes, 13/01/2007 |
| |
|
Público. Mil Folhas. Música clásica,
29/12/2006, p. 22-23. |
|
|
| |
José de Nebra: Vísperas
de Confesores |
| |
|
Diario Expansión, 17/02/07 |
| |
|
Goldberg Magazine, no. 44, February 2007, p. 94. |
| |
|
La Vanguardia. Culturas, 31/01/2007 |
| |
|
Diario de Sevilla, 27/01/2007 |
| |
|
Público. Mil Folhas. Música clásica,
29/12/2006, p. 22-23. |
| |
|
Avui. Cultura i Espectacles, 24/12/2006 |
| |
|
El Mundo. El Cultural,14/12/2006 |
| |
|
ABC. ABCD las Artes y las Letras, 02/12/2006 |
| |
|
El Mundo. El Cultural, 23/11/2006 |
|
|
| |
El vuelo de Ícaro
(The Flight of Icarus) |
| |
|
Público. Mil Folhas. Música clásica,
29/12/2006, p. 22-23. |
| |
|
Le Monde de la Musique, September 2006, p. 122-123. |
| |
|
La Libre Belgique, 12/07/2006 |
| |
|
Revista Scherzo, nº 209, June 2006, p. 107. |
| |
|
De Morgen. Muziek, 10/05/2006 |
| |
|
Avui, 16/04/2006 |
|
|
| |
Requiem para Cervantes.
Mateo Romero: Missa pro Defunctis (Requiem
for Cervantes) |
| |
|
Público. Mil Folhas. Música clásica,
29/12/2006, p. 22-23. |
| |
|
Tijdschrift Oude Muziek, August 2006, p. 88. |
| |
|
Goldberg Magazine, nº 38, February 2006 p. 89. |
| |
|
Luister, February 2006 |
| |
|
El Mundo. El Cultural, 26/11/2005 |
| |
|
La Libre Belgique, 23/11/2005 |
|
|
| |
Entre aventuras y encantamientos.
Música para don Quijote |
| |
|
Crítica Bibliographica, 07/01/2006 |
| |
|
Público. Mil Folhas. Música clásica,
29/12/2006, p. 22-23. |
| |
|
Público. Mil Folhas. Música clásica,
29/12/2006, p. 22-23. |
| |
|
Revista Scherzo, nº 199, julio 2005, p. 66. |
| |
|
Diario de Sevilla, 21/05/2005 |
|
|
|
| |
José de Nebra: Stabat Mater.
Música vocal sacra en latín |
| |
|
ABC. ABCD las artes y las letras, 25/06/2005 |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
Novedad
y calidad (Novelty and quality)
Jorge de Persia
La Vanguardia, 17/03/08
Programme: Autosacramental La Paz Universal
Opening concert 47 Semana de Música Religiosa de Cuenca
Cuenca, Teatro Auditorio, 14/3/2008
|
|
"The premiere
of a piece of work with such a high allegorical content marks
some kind of milestone, firstly in the manner in which the work
is staged. Antiqua Escena, directed by
Juan Sanz, has done a sterling job in recreating the techniques
of Baroque theatre with actors [...] with fine direction
and wonderful dramatic verve. Without forgetting comic asides
and knowing winks to the audience [...]
The musical element is well integrated into the whole, the actors
well-known and the piece is directed by
Albert Recasens, leader of La Grande Chapelle, an ensemble which
already has a wealth of recordings to its name. Recasens' work,
built on solid foundations, is deeply and firmly integrated
into the stage production [...].Of the solo singers,
three characters; the most notable that of 'Discord' (the actress
Esperanza Elipe) and the mezzo-soprano Marisa Martíns
(Peace), outstanding both in their singing and acting.
An occasion worthy of applause [...] something
which will thankfully be seen on other stages - and provides
an example of fidelity to and - most difficult of all - theatrical
resolution of a genre which holds so many attractions". |
|
|
|
El
triunfo de La Paz (The Triumph of Peace)
Marco Antonio de la Ossa
La Tribuna de Cuenca, 16/3/08
Programme: Autosacramental La Paz Universal
Opening concert 47 Semana de Música Religiosa de Cuenca
Cuenca, Teatro Auditorio, 14/3/2008
|
|
"[...] the first
thing is to highlight the amalgam of artistic disciplines which
are brought together in the same piece: music,
theatre and dance fused into a whole that offers a constant
stream of stimuli to the audience.
We could choose many different words to define the collective
efforts of Miguel Ángel Coso, Juan Sanz, Pepe Corzo and
those in charge of the emphatic lighting [...] the whole arising
out of a meticuous and detailed analysis of the text, the music
and the epoch in which they were originally created, in order
to transfer the production to a twenty-first century stage with
renewed interest - An eclectic atmosphere which combines wardrobes
and situations from different periods in the form of sunglasses,
polaroids and newspapers, to give just a few examples, undoubtedly
helping to bring the work closer to the public and to provide
adroit comic touches.
Added to this we can point to the use of colour and the capacity
to surprise from the very outset. The depth and changeable nature
of the great doorway which provides the focus of the stage-set
and the use of original machines from the Baroque era to create
effects such as storms or the sea (a delight!) work together
wonderfully well. The end result comes
close to something that we could call pictorial or photographic,
given that each scene, each moment, bursts onto the retina to
leave a series of memorable images.
On a simple musical level Albert Recasens centres his work on
highlighting the most relevant moments as the piece develops,
on the characters and the situations that it brings together
while giving prominence, logically enough, to the beginning
and the finale - as well as to some of the central passages
[...] La Grande Chapelle [...] with a marked
abilty to connect and work as an ensemble and to impose their
authority progressively right up to the end [...] a fine
performance by the three soloists".
|
|
|
|
La
Paz Universal. Escena de gourmet (Universal peace or
The Iris and the Lilly. A scene fit for gourmets)
Manuel Millán de las Heras
El Día de Cuenca, 16/3/08
Programme: Autosacramental La Paz Universal
Opening concert 47 Semana de Música Religiosa de Cuenca
Cuenca, Teatro Auditorio, 14/3/2008
|
|
"[...] a challenge
is what really gets people up and moving and when we are in
the hands of experts who know their profession the result can
only be such as we saw and heard last Good Friday: an
absolute delight.
[...] the first element to make an impression was the staging.
The gorgeous Baroque suits made in the workshop of Pepe Corzo
and the whole stage machinery transported us to the heart of
the Spanish Golden Age, up to and including the candles
used for lighting. The stage design acheived its aim of bringing
the action to life and never faltered from begining to end.
[...] Antiqua Escena fulfilled its task, with a "Discord"
ably played by Esperanza Elipe [...] Another successful decision
was that of not seperating the spoken action from the dancing
[...] the dynamism resulting from these choices evident throughout
the work.
The Ana Yepes dance company did a beautiful job in combining
Spanish and French dance. French royalty always danced (Louis
XIV was a celebrated performer) whereas the Spanish royalty
did not. The problem of a lack of clear sources for Spanish
dance steps from the 17th century was overcome with
exquiste imagination while the French dance steps from the period
followed well-documented indications. The overlapping movements
on the stage added that extra something, a bonus of efficiency
and emotion.
Last of all the music of La Grand Chapelle, which did not disappoint
[...] Albert Recasens, with a deep knowledge
of the Lully's exquisitely embellished French music, contrasted
this with Peiro's typical Baroque ornamentation, based
on ternary rhythms and a recurrent villancico structure
with many Italian touches. The sonority
and the tension continued to build, as did the concentration
of the musicians who remained completely absorbed in this wonderful
stage production".
|
|
| |
|
La "decadencia"
del XVII español (The "Decadence"
of the Spanish 17th Century)
Pablo J. Vayón
Diario de Sevilla, 13/04/2006
Programme: Sacred Music by 17th-Century Polyphonists
XLV Cuenca Religious Music Week
Cuenca, Church of San Miguel, 11/06/2006
|
|
"The church was
somewhat small for Recasens […],
[…] moments of great intensity […],
[…] perfectly refined and streamlined performances […]"
|
|
| |
|
Ilusiones
contagiosas (Infectious Enthusiasm)
Juan Ángel Vela del Campo
Goldberg, no. 33, April 2005, p. 3.
|
|
| "… Among
the champions of the symbolic quest for the 'trees, shrubs and
plants', as Miguel de Cervantes put it, of a piece by Mateo
Romero (1575-1647), special mention must
be made of that knight errant of almost impossible causes, the
musical director Ángel Recasens. With his Christie-like
instinct for voices, his Curtis-like determination in tracking
down unusual scores, and an enthusiasm in conveying the music
to revival that of López Banzo, he has recently
presented a programme on 'The Figure of Don Quixote in Music'
at the newly-restored church of San Agustín el Viejo
in Talavera de la Reina and at Los Jerónimos in Madrid,
an 8-part Réquiem for Cervantes by the great Spanish
author's contemporary Mateo Romero. Like all the musicians mentioned
in this article, Recasens is an idealist.
They are all explorers sailing crystal seas, their holds crammed
full of treasure. Musical treasure, that is". |
|
| |
|
El capitán
maestro (Captain & Maestro)
Florentino Gracia Utrillas
Scherzo, no. 196, April 2005, p. 36.
Programme: Mateo Romero, Requiem
XV Festival de Arte Sacro de la Comunidad de Madrid
Madrid, Church of San Jerónimo el Real, 18/02/2005
|
|
| "The Comunidad
de Madrid is to be congratulated for presenting us to the musical
world of Mateo Romero, inaugurating the 15th Sacred Music Festival
with a concert at the Church of San Jerónimo el Real.
Under the generic title of 'Requiem for Cervantes', his Missa
pro defunctis was performed, together with several responsories
by his contemporary Pedro Ruimonte (1565-1627). This concert
was presented by the vocal-instrumental ensemble Grande Chapelle
with Schola Antiqua performing the parts in plainchant, all
under the direction of Ángel Recasens.
La Grande Chapelle's version was flawless, both in regard to
the vocal parts and the small supporting instrumental group.
The 12 voices making up the ensemble gave a clean interpretation,
with perfect phrasing, the passages performed by groups of four
being particularly outstanding. […] The audience's
warm ovation was repaid with an encore, the Marian hymn Tota
pulcra by Sebastián López de Velasco (1584-1659)". |
|
| |
|
Cervantes,
descanse en paz (Cervantes, Rest in
Peace)
Luis Mazorra Incera
Ritmo, no. 774, April 2005, p. 31.
|
|
| "A
coherent, polished performance, the result of a team effort,
in which the efficacious polyphonic singing of La Grande Chapelle
(Capilla Príncipe de Viana), a sizeable group of vocalists
and musicians conducted by Ángel Recasens, was
joined by the monophonic line of Juan Carlos Asensio's Schola
Antiqua in the plainchant. A rare anachronistic synchronicity
-or synchronistic anachronism-, impeded us from 'resting in
peace' -during the inauguration of the 15th Sacred Music Festival
organised by the Comunidad de Madrid- despite the real contingency
of the symbolic and sacred context in which it is found today". |
|
| |
|
Entre aventuras
y encantamientos (Amid Adventures
and Enchantment)
Juan Ángel Vela del Campo
El País, 01/03/2005
Programme: Entre aventuras y encantamientos. Música para
Don Quijote
Música y Patrimonio de Caja Madrid Cycle
Talavera de la Reina (Toledo), Church of San Agustín,
27/02/2005
|
|
"Ángel
Recasens, an authentic maestro di cappella, like
those of days gone by, once again reasserted his mastery with
a programme devoted to music for Don Quixote.
Recasens already has a long career behind him, yet he remains
one of the best-kept secrets of performing excellence in the
Spanish repertory of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
The group Grande Chapelle was at home in this repertory, naturally
performing the very elaborate polyphonic pieces, such as those
by Mateo [Romero] (1575-1647), or exploiting the expressiveness
of reverberation in those by Joan Pau Pujol and Pedro Guerrero.
The last phrase of the latter -'Salid sin
duelo, lágrimas, corriendo' (Thou come unrestrainedly,
tears, flowing)- with a text by Garcilaso
de la Vega, was simply spine tingling.
In the programme, an excerpt from Don Quixote preceded each
song. The selection of both poetry and music made by Lola Josa
and Mariano Lambea, respectively, was superb. And
the performance was exemplary, both on an instrumental and vocal
level. Apart from the musical director, all the musicians
were foreigners. This could be deduced from their appearance,
but not from their pronunciation or style. In sum, Recasens
is just as rigorous in both the small and not so small details.
It was a gratifying concert, warmly received by the audience
who filled the church in complete silence".
|
|
| |
|
Resurrección
(Resurrection)
Luis Suñén
El País, 20/02/2005
Programme: Mateo Romero, Requiem
XV Festival de Arte Sacro de la Comunidad de Madrid
Madrid, Church of San Jerónimo el Real, 18/02/2005
|
|
"What
a family! Ángel Recasens, the father, is a magnificent
choral director who is completely dedicated to early music today;
his son Albert, one of those musicologists who is in the habit
of rescuing 'lost' musical treasures. And between them, they
have revived the Missa pro defunctis by Mateo Romero
(1575-1647) for the inauguration of the 15th Sacred Music Festival
organised by the Community of Madrid, performing it just as
they believe it was done in its time, with the plainchant sung
by the marvellous Schola Antiqua conducted by Juan Carlos Asensio.
The addition of the fabulous De Profundis by Pedro Ruimonte
(1565-1627) formed a colophon to this very beautiful music.
Capped off by the appropriateness of San Jerónimo el
Real as the setting, the presentation couldn't have been better.
Romero's Mass is less luxurious, less sensual, but more carnal
than Victoria's, Guerrero's or Morales's; it is more earthly
music. Recasens has excellently rendered
this universe, full of beauty, and his new group, Grande Chapelle,
the result of the natural expansion of the Capilla Príncipe
de Viana, have demonstrated they are more than capable of taking
a leading role in what is already a very competitive world of
early music".
|
|
| |
|
Rodríguez
de Hita, Canciones instrumentales (Instrumental
Canciones)
Christopher Price
Goldberg Magazine, no. 44, February 2007, p.102. |
|
"[…] the
composer's bright and colourful ideas, lively rhythms and delightful
melodies […]
Their performances, meticulous, elegant and sweetly adorned
[…] prove to be very witty […]" |
|
| |
|
Sense vergonya
(Without Shame)
Xavier Cester
Avui. Cultura i Espectacles, 04/02/2007 |
|
| "Another who
shows no remorse in defending our heritage, in this case Spanish,
is Àngel Recasens and his exemplary La Grande Chapelle". |
|
| |
|
Canciones instrumentals
(Instrumental Songs)
Stefano Russomano
ABC. ABCD de las Artes, 13/01/2007 |
|
| "[...] The members
of La Grande Chapelle demonstrate here an exquisite sound and
a good command of technique". |
|
| |
|
"Laudas"
à música antiga espanhola ("Laudas"
to early Spanish music)
Cristina Fernandes
Público. Mil Folhas. Música clásica,
29/12/2006, p. 22-23. |
|
"One of Lauda
Musica's most important recordings.
[…] music of a very high quality that can give great pleasure
to the listener, offered here in an excellent performance". |
|
| |
|
Rescatando
tesoros (Rescuing treasures)
Diario Expansión, 17/02/2007 |
|
"Ángel
Recasens' work on recovering the early Spanish repertoire is
giving results that can only be described as extraordinary.
[…] The care taken over the musical and liturgical aspects,
with a desire to be faithful to the discovered original, allows
us to relish in this authentic gem of our artistic heritage.
An absolutely exceptional recording". |
|
| |
|
José
de Nebra, Vísperas de Confesores (Confessors'
Vespers)
Craig Zeichner
Goldberg Magazine, no. 44, February 2007, p. 94.
5 Goldberg Stars
|
|
"This recording
of José de Nebra's sacred works sung a cappella is a
very pleasant surprise.
[…] psalmodies which have been carefully chosen by Asensio
and are well performed by Schola Antiqua.
[…] The Beatus vir offers the psalmody in alternatim
with polyphonic verses, sung with intensity by the four voices
of La Grande Chapelle.
[…] the Magnificat is marvellous, an austere series
with some glorious moments of vocal writing of very high quality.
This is beautiful and solemn music that, despite its dark colouring,
contains passages of priceless serenity". |
|
| |
|
José
de Nebra. Vísperas (Vespers)
Jorge de Persia
La Vanguardia. Culturas, 31/01/2007 |
|
| "[…] Vísperas
de Confesores, a jewel of the Spanish Baroque". |
|
| |
|
|
Reconstruir el Barroco español
(Reconstructing the Spanish Baroque)
Pablo J. Vayón
Diario de Sevilla, 27/01/2007
|
|
"[…] this
new disc from Lauda Records offers us a different perspective
on the Aragonese composer.
[...] An unpublished repertory magnificently contextualised".
|
|
| |
|
"Laudas"
à música antiga espanhola ("Laudas"
to early Spanish music)
Cristina Fernandes
Público. Mil Folhas. Música clásica,
29/12/2006, p. 22-23. |
|
| "[…] solidly
written music with great dignity of expression. Music designed
not for the concert hall, but for prayer and Baroque holy ceremonies,
offered here with a rigorous and introspective approach". |
|
| |
|
Sacre i profà
(Sacred and Profane)
Xavier Cester
Avui. Cultura i Espectacles, 24/12/2006 |
|
| "[…] an
attractive retrieval of our heritage […]". |
|
| |
|
Clásica
Navidad…discos para regalar (Classical
Christmas - discs to give as gifts)
El Mundo. El Cultural,14/12/2006 |
|
| "A true sacred
festival [...] Extreme severity and penetrating emotion are
the arms of this performance, in which the Schola Antigua, under
the baton of Juan Carlos Asensio, participates with its proverbial
decorum, in which polyphonic fragments with a sublime counterpoint
stand out. Excellent overall direction by Ángel Recasens". |
|
| |
|
Vísperas
de confesores (Confessors' Vespers)
Alberto González Lapuente
ABC. ABCD las Artes y las Letras, 2/12/2006
|
|
| "La Grande Chapelle
enjoys archaeology. […] We can divine therefore that giving
it life has not been easy. Reconstruction means taking decisions.
[…] An agreeable surprise from 18th century
Spain". |
|
| |
|
La verdad de
la pureza (The Truth of Purity)
Arturo Reverter
El Mundo. El Cultural, 23/11/2006 |
|
"[…] a true
feast of sacred music
[…] within an extreme austerity, an emotion that permeates
[…] the polyphonic pieces, of a sublime counterpoint, entrusted
to four voices, in tune and tight, able to reach high degrees
of intensity when drawing the gentle melodic lines, to accentuate
the dissonances and the chromatisms that enrich the pentagrams,
brought together in a unitary and timeless stylistic whole.
The use of the falsobordone, with contrasting effects, and the
inclusion of organistic 'verses', […] contribute to providing
range, variety, and eloquence to the reconstruction". |
|
| |
|
"Laudas"
à música antiga espanhola ("Laudas"
to early Spanish music)
Cristina Fernandes
Público. Mil Folhas. Música clásica,
29/12/2006, p. 22-23. |
|
"'The Flight
of Icarus. Music for the Baroque Eros' is more a thematic disc
with a programme conceived with imagination and intelligence.
[…] the musicians of La Grande Chapelle distance themselves
from the stereotype of Latin exuberance that is sometimes associated
with Spanish artists to offer us a more Apollonian performance". |
|
| |
|
Le vol d'Icare
(The Flight of Icarus)
Frank Langlois
Le Monde de la Musique, September 2006, p. 122-123.
4 stars Le Monde de la Musique
|
|
"[…] the
repertoire, both archaistic and innovative.
[…] There is no banality in any of these pages, but rather
a solemnity born out of drama and irony that reveals, beyond
a superficial Spanishness, the profound nature of that which
haunted individuals and society on the other side of the Pyrenees
in the 17th century
[…] This disc is captivating
[…] La Grande Chapelle hits the nail on the head. Thanks
to talented vocalists […] and excellent instrumentalists,
Angel Recasens introduces an enveloping climate and a dramatic
tension that keeps you on the edge of your seat". |
|
| |
|
El vuelo de
Icaro (The Flight of Icarus)
Nicolas Blanmont
La Libre Belgique, 12/07/2006
3 stars La Libre Belgique
|
|
|
"[…] A magnificent and exciting journey".
|
|
| |
|
Eros barroco
(Baroque Eros)
Pablo J. Vayón
Revista Scherzo, nº 209, June 2006, p. 107. |
|
[…] Lola Josa
and Mariano Lambea, who also penned some magnificent sleeve
notes
[…] Recasens […] uses them in a variety of ways and
with general good sense.
[…] On the other hand, the contributions of the tenor Hervé
Lamy, of impeccable lineage, are very elegant […].
The instrumental group is of the highest level and their accompaniment
is full of life, flair, and expressive power". |
|
| |
|
La Grande Chapelle:
El vuelo de Icaro (The Flight of Icarus)
Stephan Moens
De Morgen. Muziek, 10/05/2006 |
|
| "[…] This
relatively little-known music is performed here with enthusiasm". |
|
| |
|
En el nom de
Mendelssohn (amb permís de Mozart)
(The name of Mendelssohn [with the permission of Mozart])
Xavier Cester
Avui, 16/04/2006 |
|
"Perhaps some
people would like Savall to focus his attention more on repertoires
that still need promoting, such as the Spanish Baroque".
[…] It's not a festival, but it is a good flight". |
|
| |
|
"Laudas"
à música antiga espanhola ("Laudas"
to early Spanish music)
Cristina Fernandes
Público. Mil Folhas. Música clásica,
29/12/2006, p. 22-23. |
|
"[...] It gives
beauty to the music of Romero […], the main interest of
this performance lies in the colour the instruments confer on
the polyphonic texture
[…], the very beautiful Tota pulchra es Maria. La
Grande Chapelle's performance is serene and spiritual, without
rhetorical emphasis or traces of dramatic quality even when
the text may call for it, as happens, for example, in Dies
irae".
|
|
| |
|
M. Romero:
Requiem para Cervantes (Requiem for
Cervantes)
Albert Edelman
Tijdschrift Oude Muziek, August 2006, p. 88. |
|
"The way La Grande
Chapelle has entered the market could be described as an offensive,
with three discs published almost simultaneously.
[…] Àngel Recasens goes for a performance with control
[…]". |
|
| |
|
Requiem para
Cervantes (Requiem for Cervantes)
Graig Zeichner
Goldberg Magazine, nº 38, February 2006 p. 89.
5 stars Goldberg
|
|
| "[...] His Missa
pro Defunctis, as well as the liturgical music of Pedro
Ruimonte and Sebastián López de Velasco that completes
this list, are magnificently performed by La Grande Chapelle
and Schola Antiqua. The vocal passages are tackled with great
ability and the instrumental accompaniment (wind and string)
is discrete and balanced, with a beauty that is evident above
all in the mass introit". |
|
| |
|
Cuando Carlos
V... (When Charles V…)
M.B.
Luister, February 2006
Luister 9 |
|
| "[...] La Grande
Chapelle is no less that a group at the pinnacle". |
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Réquiems
españoles (Spanish Requiems)
Rafael Banús
El Mundo. El Cultural, 26/11/2005 |
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| "[…] The
Grande Chapelle's performance […] combines stylistic rigour
with intense emotion". |
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El nuevo sello
Lauda... (The new Lauda label…)
Nicolas Blanmont
La Libre Belgique, 23/11/2005
3 stars La Libre Belgique
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| "[…] The
result is a perfect combination of contrasts -in sound and style-
and a powerful artistic unity". |
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Entre aventuras
y encantamientos. Música para don Quijote (Amid
Adventures and Enchantment - Music for Don Quixote)
Juan José Pastor Comín (University of Castilla-La
Mancha)
Crítica Bibliographica, 07/01/2006 |
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"[…] this
meticulously-produced edition that well deserves to be highlighted
as one of the most original and outstanding contributions we
will have the pleasure to see.
[…] an exceptional selection and recreation.
[…] For this difficult contracanto, the authors
have used their vast knowledge and experience of the Spanish
musical heritage of the 'Golden Centuries', in which they find
themselves very much at home.
[…] Àngel Recasens, who, with La Grande Chapelle
under his baton, has managed to translate and bring to our ears
this enthralling polyphonic combination - both in text and sound.
[…] an excellent performance, both in terms of pitch, […]
as well as in melody, underlined by the notable independence
of the voices.
[…] In summary, one of the best achievements in the maremagnum
of celebrations that, far from limiting itself to the customary
archaeological reconstructions, takes the risk of venturing
along the path of creation and recreation, thus
recovering the spirit and the purest style of our golden-age
writers and composers. What a pity such valuable pearls are
such a rare phenomenon". |
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"Laudas"
à música antiga espanhola ("Laudas"
to early Spanish music)
Cristina Fernandes
Público. Mil Folhas. Música clásica,
29/12/2006, p. 22-23. |
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"[…] a new
label based on musicological rigour, thematic programmes, and
the dissemination of unknown repertoires".
[…] an appropriate model for the organised transfer of
musicological research for musical life and management, and
cultural dissemination.
[…] Far from being for specialists (despite the attention
paid to some of the details of historical reconstruction) they
are equally attractive to the normal music lover". |
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| Entre aventuras
y encantamientos. Música para don Quijote
(Amid Adventures and Enchantment - Music for Don Quixote) |
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| "[…] offer
an appealing performance provided with a certain expressive
assertion, when compared to the more exuberant projects of Savall
or José Miguel Moreno". |
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Una banda sonora
para El Quijote (A soundtrack
for Don Quixote)
Pablo J. Vayón
Scherzo, no. 199, July 2005, p. 66. |
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"The year commemorating
the fourth centenary of the publication of part one of Don
Quixote couldn't go by without the release of recordings
aiming to capture the sound world in which Cervantes worked
and presumedly provided the setting for the novel's characters.
[…]
These recordings approach Cervantes's masterpiece from different
angles and can be seen as complementary. Ángel Recasens
seeks a full implication with the literalness of the novel,
to the extent that he resorts to contrafactum to set
some of its poems to music, unloading much of the weight of
the performance on the polyphony of the voices. On the other
hand, José Miguel Moreno offers a much more general view.
Moreno's is almost a report on the atmosphere surrounding the
writer and his characters, and his recreations constantly seesaw
between purely instrumental dances and songs for solo voices
with accompaniment.
Recently formed from what was formerly the Capilla Príncipe
de Viana ensemble, La Grande Chapelle appear
to be a solid group with wide appeal, as Ángel Recasens
has successfully recruited many of the leading figures in European
early music. Singers like Cécile Kempenaers, Hervé
May and Lieven Termont and instrumentalists including the flautists
Bart Coen and Peter de Clercq, the gambist Piet Stryckers, the
lutenist Philippe Malfeyt and the harpist Hannelore Devaere
regularly perform with some of the most important European ensembles
specialising in Renaissance and early-Baroque music (Capilla
Flamenca, Ensemble Romanesca, Huelgas Ensemble…).
The first part of the Recasens recording consists of themes
from the Romancero (collection of Spanish ballads), with
anonymous music taken from the Cancionero de Turín
and the Libro de tonos humanos held at the Biblioteca
Nacional. This section also includes Nunca mucho costó
poco by Carlos Patiño and Al tronco de un verde
mirto by Fray Gerónimo. La Grande
Chapelle performs colourful versions of these pieces, with very
lively rhythms and a rich combination of instrumental and vocal
timbres. A Tiento de cuarto tono by Sebastián
Aguilera Heredia, transcribed for instrumental ensemble, serves
as the centrepiece of the recording. A more austere tone colour
marks the second part, with the inclusion of two sacred works
(an incomplete Miserere by Mateo Romero and Victoria's
Super flumina Babylonis) and the use of contrafactum
referred to above. This technique is used for as many as five
poems taken from Don Quixote which had never been interpreted
musically (Árboles, yerbas y plantas, Sancho Panza
es aqueste, Suelen las fuerzas de amor, Amor cuando yo pienso
and Yace aquí el hidalgo fuerte), set to music
by Romero, Chacón, Joan Pau Pujol and an anonymous composer.
The performance of this second part of the CD is, as I said,
more austere, with a cappella versions of Romero's Miserere
and ¡Oh, más dura que mármol a mis quejas!
by Pedro Guerrero, set to Garcilaso's famous poem. Very
refined phrasing and exquisite care with the prosody
(the pronunciation of Recasens's singers, none of whom are Spanish,
is admirable) top off what is a very interesting
recording for the unusualness of the repertory and its well-contrasted
and elegant performances.
[…] As I said, two complementary recordings, which could
magnificently serve as the soundtrack to accompany the adventures
of the most famous literary character of all time".
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Glosas y canciones
para el caballero de la triste figura
(Glosas and songs for the knight of the sad countenance)
Pablo J. Vayón
Diario de Sevilla, 21/05/2005 |
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"[…] To this
effect, musically speaking, this year, the year of Cervantes,
attention has been focused on discovering, analysing and performing
music inspired by Don Quixote from the seventeenth century
itself to the present. By contrast, both the recordings reviewed
today strive to recreate the musical environment in which the
novel was conceived. While José Miguel Moreno's Orphénica
Lyra restrict their recording to a presentation of assorted
ballads, songs and dances from Cervantes's time, music which
the Madrilenian writer was quite possibly familiar with, Ángel
Recasens goes even further, by presenting various texts
taken from Don Quixote hat have been set to pre-existing
melodies, in accordance with the contrafactum technique,
which was commonly used during the period.
Entre aventuras y encantamientos
is thus a unique contribution to sixteenth- and seventeenth-century
Spanish music. Recasens has successfully brought together an
extremely interesting group of European singers and musicians
to form La Grande Chapelle, including the soprano Cécile
Kempenaers, the tenor Hervé Lamy, the baritone Lieven
Termont, the flautist Bart Coen and the harpist Hannelore Devaere.
Their renditions of various anonymous
ballads and music -sacred and secular- by Victoria, Mateo Romero,
Carlos Patiño, Pedro Guerrero and Joan Pau Pujol reflect
admirable refinement and delicacy. The weight of these versions
rests on the voices and instead of concealing the polyphonic
texture of the works, it is even emphasised with the performance
of some a cappella pieces.
[…] Two recordings that just may serve to confirm the phrase
spoken by the knight from La Mancha: 'Where there's music, there
can't be mischief".
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Nebra
Alberto González Lapuente
ABC. ABCD las Artes y las Letras, 25/06/2005
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| "In the wake of
the third centenary of the birth of José de Nebra comes
this recording of his 'sacred vocal music in Latin'. This is
the title of this compilation of his late works. It is especially
worth discovering his important Stabat Mater and the
motet Circumdederunt me, an example of the use of solo
voices and conceptual profundity. The performance
given by the Capilla Príncipe de Viana, conducted by
Ángel Recasens, is marked by attention to vocal intonation
and fidelity to the text, restrained in intention and clearly
blended in a sonority that the technique has wrapped
in a certain density. The fact that this
is the first time these little-known works have been recorded
makes this recording, so firmly devoted to the 'sweet'
music of this Aragonese composer, even
more valuable". |
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Conjuntos
Solistas
