"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".

"[…] 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".