A timeless masterpiece revisited by a master of Baroque music The release of Bach's St. John Passion, conducted by Jordi Savall, marks an exceptional musical event. This monumental work, composed in 1724, remains one of the pinnacles of sacred music, combining spiritual depth and musical virtuosity. Under the inspired baton of Jordi Savall, renowned for his subtle and respectful interpretation of Baroque scores, this Passion takes on a new dimension, combining historical rigor with pure emotion. Jordi Savall, a leading figure in early music, brings a rare sensitivity to this interpretation, highlighting the richness of the choruses, the power of the narratives, and the beauty of the arias. His approach, both scholarly and accessible, allows listeners to appreciate the complexity and modernity of this score, which continues to touch hearts after three centuries. This recording is aimed at both seasoned music lovers and newcomers alike, offering an immersive and moving experience. It is a unique opportunity to rediscover a gem of the repertoire, performed by one of the greatest interpreters of our time.
Step into the luminous world of Baroque splendor with Jordi Savall's latest album, a breathtaking interpretation of Marc-Antoine Charpentier's Te Deum and In Natitvitatem canticum. Renowned for his profound musicality and historical insight, Savall invites listeners on a spiritual journey, illuminating the sacred beauty and emotional depth of these iconic works. Under Savall's masterful direction, Le Concert des Nations and the Choir of La Capella Reial de Catalunya deliver performances of exquisite clarity and passion, capturing the essence of 17th-century French court music. This album is not just a recording-it's a celebration of faith, artistry, and the timeless power of music to uplift the soul.
In his new album, Jordi Savall, undisputed master of early music, reveals a new interpretation of Haydn's Seasons. With an approach that respects tradition while injecting his own unique signature, Savall breathes new life into this masterpiece. His use of period instruments and his acute sense of detail offer a freshness and emotional depth never heard before. At once timeless and innovative, this album immerses the listener in the very essence of nature and the seasons, capturing the beauty and richness of Haydn's work with a rare intensity. An experience not to be missed.
This new recording by Jordi Savall features emblematic works by Marc-Antoine Charpentier. It allows us to hear the orchestra Le Concert des Nations at it's best in a repertoire in which Jordi Savall has already distinguished himself many times, both on disc and in concert. A disc that is not only an ideal Christmas gift, but also the cornerstone of any Carpenter discography worthy of the name.
Following the huge success of the Symphonies boxsets, and considering Jordi Savall's expertise in sacred music it was invevitable that he should record the Missa Solemnis. As in his previous Beethoven, Schubert and Mendelssohn recordings, the Catalan maestro delivers a recording freed from the weight of past traditions to underline the dynamics, the section balance and the timbres that are required in this repertoire. He ignites the Promethean fire as imagined by Beethoven's demiurgic mind.
After Haydn, Beethoven and Schubert, Jordi Savall continues his journey into the 19th century with the Italian Symphony of Felix Mendelssohn, a composer he records for the first time. He delivers 2 versions of the work: the one which was performed at the wolrdwide premiere in 1833 and the revised one from 1834. The most conspicuous changes are to be found in the last tree movements. The comparison of the two scores and the performance on period instruments take us as close to Mendelssohn's work and original intention as we will ever get. Thanks to Jordi Savall's insightful conducting, there is still something to discover in Mendelssohn's most famous symphony.
When he was only a child, Jordi Savall entered a church in which musicians were rehearsing Mozart's Requiem. It made such a impression on him that he said to himself: "If music has such a power, I want to be a musician." Now 81, having recorded 230 albums, he delivers a stunning new recording of this work. "Savall conducted with his chamber ensemble Le Concert des Nations and chorus La Capella Nacional de Catalunya a version vividly depicting the horrors of death... as a musician and consummate scholar he is a man of the Enlightenment and succeeds in reviving the original religious intention and effect of this Mass for the Dead." (Suddeutsche Zeitung)
Ensemble Tasto Solo brings us back to the Europe of the XVIIth Century, at a time when Italy was the epicenter of a new style derived from the world of dance. This album revolves mainly around the work of composer Vincenzo Ruffo and his contemporaries. The instruments used in the present recording are typical of the Italian culture of the early Renaissance in chamber music: a small harpsichord without damper in the upper register, a simple harp, a viola da gamba and a lute.
Following a recording of Beethoven's complete symphonies, which largely contributed to renew our vision of the early Romantic repertoire, Jordi Savall releases his first Schubert album. The Catalan maestro delivers a recording freed from the weight of past traditions to underline the dynamics, the section balance and the timbres that are required in this repertoire. Jordi Savall decided to entitle this album Transfiguration, because, as he explains, we are always astonished at Schubert's ability to reach this essentially internal and spiritual dimension, this kind of Transfiguration, which he simply sums up as follows in his diary in 1824: "My production is the result of my musical knowledge and my pain" or, to quote a poem he wrote a little earlier, "When I wanted to sing love, it turned into pain. When I wanted to sing pain, it turned into love."
A year before his pinnacle opus, Orpheus and Eurydice, Gluck was already largely renewing another musical genre, the ballet, by adapting in 1761 a play by Moliere for the Viennese public: Don Juan. Another ballet, Semiramis, would follow the next year, these two works innovate in that they offer a coherent narration where all the resources of the orchestra are put at the service of expressiveness. Jordi Savall and the Concert des Nations restore all the colors and remind us that a quarter of a century before that of Mozart, another outstanding personality haunted the stages of Europe with all the evocative power of which music is capable.
This deluxe remastering of three albums includes the three most famous songbooks of the Golden Age (1451-1595). The Sevillian Cancionero de la Colombina and Cancionero Musical de Medinaceli are samples of a musical humanism with a distinctly Hispanic stamp, in which the cultured and the popular come together. The Castilian Cancionero de Palacio is the most valuable and representative jewel of the repertoire performed in the itinerant Courts of the Catholic Kings, including songs, Christmas carols, ballads and 'extravagances' by authors such as Encina, Millan, Escobar, Anchieta, and Penalosa. La Capella Reial de Catalunya, Hesperion XX and Jordi Savall made them known to the world through these famous recordings made between 1991 and 1992.
After the critical success of the first volume of Beethoven's symphonies, Jordi Savall offers us Symphonies Six to Nine. This latest publication crowns a nearly two-year world tour and confirms the extent to which the Savall renews our vision of these most famous works. The Concert des Nations shows that it also knows how to magnify the repertoire of the early 19th century.
Jordi Savall leads La Capella Reial de Catalunya and Le Concert des Nation in Haydn's The Creation. The composer confessed that while composing he had "felt an extraordinary religious fervor". However, this work was also inspired by the spirituality of the Viennese Masonic lodges of his day. It is above all the first secular oratorio, in the sense that it's message is addressed to all mankind, exactly like The Magic Flute, in operati
Jordi Savall presents two declarations of intent, two proclamations of faith, two messages of acknowledgment and two affirmations, both strong and ambiguous at the same time, by Couperin himself, through the two great ancestors to whom he paid homage: L'Apotheose de Lully (1725) and L'Apotheose de Corelli (1726).
In her first solo album as a singer and harpist, Arianna Savall introduces us to a repertoire from the medieval and Baroque periods performed with seven different historical harps. The music comes from Italy, France, and Spain, where the harp has held a prominent position in cultural life, and experienced a flowering of unique variety and beauty.
Bach: Christmas Oratorio / Savall, Le Concert des Nations
ALIA VOX
SACD
$32.49Dec 18, 2020
Johann Sebastian Bach composed six cantatas for the Christmas holidays in 1734, to have one performed for each particular holiday during services in the main churches of Leipzig, St. Thomas and St. Nicholas. Both the narrative march of the Gospel and the tonality in which the musical framework was composed, give the cantatas a character of an autonomous cycle that Jordi Savall and his groups face for the first time
Marais's Alcione is the last great 'tragedy' in music from the reign of Louis XIV. It is a total spectacle at the crossroads of the 17th and 18th centuries, from which it takes the mythological source, it's praise of the sovereign's glory and the literary requirement to combine choreography and stage movements. Jordi Savall rediscovered this work and brought it back to life for the first stage production in Paris since 1771.
Synergia: Music From The Island Of Cyprus / Dimitri Psonis
ALIA VOX
CD
$22.92Sep 18, 2020
This program brings together the most beautiful songs and dances from the ancient Cypriot traditions, a rediscovery of forgotten repertoires performed by island singers and instrumentalists, along with musicians from Greece and Turkey, all selected and directed by Dimitri Psonis. Music maintained through ancient oral traditions, illustrating the rich diversity of this ancient culture through a lively recreation that is faithful to both the traditions and modernity of the island. This miracle is possible thanks to artists who, with their exhaustive knowledge of the oral traditions that have been transmitted from generation to generation, give new life to these songs of love, disturbing lullabies and dances full of enthusiasm and vitality. In this way we experience the deep and mysterious link between history, art and life.
Juan Sebastian Elcano - The first voyage round the world - For those of us who are lucky enough to have been able to travel in space and time with Jordi Savall as members of his ensembles and to learn from each of his projects, launching a new programme with the figure of the outstanding Basque navigator Juan Sebastian Elcano to guide us on a musical journey through his world and his times is a congenial task. The premise is clear and the principle is a simple one: music is the quintessential universal language, which has united remote peoples through the ages, as it still does today. The same man who, 500 years ago, took part in an expedition commanded by Ferdinand Magellan to find the Spice Islands for the Crown of Castile, and who despite having established a landmark in universal history by circumnavigating the Earth, is nowadays unknown in much of the world, and yet provides us with a perspective on the past which enhances our enjoyment and understanding of the present.
Bach's St. Mark Passion was based on a text by Christian Friedrich Henrici and created using existing works. It was first performed in Leipzig in March 1731 and then revised for the Holy Week of 1744. The autograph score is lost, but recent musicological research shows that some pieces like the Funeral Ode BWV198 or an aria from the Cantata BWV 54 had been recycled. Every performance is thus a reconstruction by the performing artist. Jordi Savall offers his own vision, made of subtle chiaroscuro, suffused with serenity and meditation.
This live recording made on January 31st, 2002 at the Liceu Theater in Barcelona is already a cornerstone of any Monteverdi discography. Previously only available on DVD from Opus Arte, this multi-channel SACD version reveals the full scale of Jordi Savall's inspiration. Beautifully executed by La Capella Reial de Catalunya, Le Concert des Nations and a cast of soloists that includes Furio Zanasi, Sara Mingardo and the late Monteserrat Figueras, this is a release to treasure.
In November 2011, the music world suffered a huge loss with the passing of the great soprano Montserrat Figueras. Acclaimed in recent years for her exceptional work with her husband Jordi Savall, both in performance and in recordings for their Alia Vox label, Figueras was famed not only as a vocalist but also for her scholarly efforts in the area of musicology. This comprehensive tribute album presents a selection of highlights from Figueras career. It includes recordings she made for the Astre'e, DHM, EMI and Alia Vox labels.
