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Adio Espana - Romances, Villancicos & Improvisations from Spain / Baltimore Consort
Sono Luminus

Adio Espana - Romances, Villancicos & Improvisations from Spain / Baltimore Consort

$18.99

Details

Composer
VARIOUS
Artist
Baltimore Consort
Format
CD
Label
Sono Luminus
Released
Apr 28, 2009
Catalog #
DSL-90901
UPC
053479090126

About

The six-person Baltimore Consort is one of the oldest early-music ensembles still on the performing scene. It employs a relatively small number of instruments at any time and produces a varied, sometimes intimate, result. This works well with some of the more expressive songs on this new release that features countertenor José Lemos, who sounds remarkably like a dark-voiced mezzo. (He’s listed as a full member on the album, but is described as a guest artist on its Web site.) The pieces are varied in subject and tone, from the usual digs at cuckolds to a couple displaying the religious triumphalism that followed in the wake of Castile’s historical ascension.

The program is one the Baltimore Consort has been performing for several years, mixing simple, popular songs and dances from the three monotheistic religious cultures that occupied the Iberian peninsula before the conclusion of the Reconquista in 1492. Much of the content is necessarily anonymous, and much else credited by tradition to arrangers, as in the dances drawn from Diego Ortiz’s Trattado de Glosas . Several selections are frequently played in concert by early-music ensembles, such as “Cucú, cucú, cucucú” (with some lovely tone here from recorder specialist Mindy Rosenfeld), Ortiz’s Italian-influenced “Recercada segunda,” and de la Torre’s “Danza Alta,” which if memory serves, I first heard live at a Terpsichore concert while recording it for Minnesota Public Radio in the early 1980s. “Ríu, ríu, chiu” is another perennial favorite, as is “Oy comamos y bebamos.” It all adds up to an exciting, strongly folk-flavored concert, varied in timbre, tempo, and expressive mood from moment to moment, though always played with the expertise one might expect from this group of musicians.

Some listeners may flinch at the near-rock bass line established (but quickly abandoned) by “Calabaça, no sé, buen amor,” or the full, strummed guitar chords and syncopated vocal line in “Tu madre cuando te parió” that come close to modern popular music. The Baltimore Consort may be engaging in a little épater le bourgeois in these cases, or it may just be offering proofs of concept—that rock rhythms do on occasion reproduce much older folk ones, and that the casual speech rhythms of Spanish folk song bridge popular music across the centuries. Regardless, if you can accept and enjoy what you hear, fine and well. In any case, with full bilingual texts and translations, and good if general notes, this one’s definitely recommended.

FANFARE: Barry Brenesal

Tracklist 25 tracks

  1. 1 Morena me llaman 05:21
    Track
    1
    Title
    Morena me llaman
    Duration
    05:21
    Composer
    Traditional
    Ensemble
    Baltimore Consort
  2. 2 Avrix mi galanica 01:33
    Track
    2
    Title
    Avrix mi galanica
    Duration
    01:33
    Composer
    Traditional
    Ensemble
    Baltimore Consort
  3. 3 La manana de San Juan 03:00
    Track
    3
    Title
    La manana de San Juan
    Duration
    03:00
    Composer
    Diego Pisador
    Ensemble
    Baltimore Consort
  4. 4 Trattado de glosas: Recercada la Spagna (arr. for chamber ensemble) 00:58
    Track
    4
    Title
    Trattado de glosas: Recercada la Spagna (arr. for chamber ensemble)
    Duration
    00:58
    Composer
    Diego Ortiz
    Ensemble
    Baltimore Consort
  5. 5 Danza alta sobre La Spagna 02:04
    Track
    5
    Title
    Danza alta sobre La Spagna
    Duration
    02:04
    Composer
    Francisco de la Torre
    Ensemble
    Baltimore Consort
  6. 6 Tiento 00:38
    Track
    6
    Title
    Tiento
    Duration
    00:38
    Composer
    Alonso Mudarra
    Ensemble
    Baltimore Consort
  7. 7 Triste estava el rey David 01:41
    Track
    7
    Title
    Triste estava el rey David
    Duration
    01:41
    Composer
    Alonso Mudarra
    Ensemble
    Baltimore Consort
  8. 8 Riu, riu, chiu 02:14
    Track
    8
    Title
    Riu, riu, chiu
    Duration
    02:14
    Composer
    Traditional
    Ensemble
    Baltimore Consort
  9. 9 Tres morillas m'enamoran 01:14
    Track
    9
    Title
    Tres morillas m'enamoran
    Duration
    01:14
    Composer
    Anonymous
    Ensemble
    Baltimore Consort
  10. 10 Di, perra Mora 02:14
    Track
    10
    Title
    Di, perra Mora
    Duration
    02:14
    Composer
    Pedro Guerrero
    Ensemble
    Baltimore Consort
  11. 11 Quinta pars 01:37
    Track
    11
    Title
    Quinta pars
    Duration
    01:37
    Composer
    Diego Ortiz
    Ensemble
    Baltimore Consort
  12. 12 Recercada primera sobre el passemezzo antico 01:59
    Track
    12
    Title
    Recercada primera sobre el passemezzo antico
    Duration
    01:59
    Composer
    Diego Ortiz
    Ensemble
    Baltimore Consort
  13. 13 Recercada segunda sobre el passamezzo moderno 03:10
    Track
    13
    Title
    Recercada segunda sobre el passamezzo moderno
    Duration
    03:10
    Composer
    Diego Ortiz
    Ensemble
    Baltimore Consort
  14. 14 Qu'es de ti, desconsolado? 03:46
    Track
    14
    Title
    Qu'es de ti, desconsolado?
    Duration
    03:46
    Composer
    Juan del Encina
    Ensemble
    Baltimore Consort
  15. 15 Levanta Pascual, levanta 02:16
    Track
    15
    Title
    Levanta Pascual, levanta
    Duration
    02:16
    Composer
    Juan del Encina
    Ensemble
    Baltimore Consort
  16. 16 Orphenica lyra: Morenica, dame un beso 01:26
    Track
    16
    Title
    Orphenica lyra: Morenica, dame un beso
    Duration
    01:26
    Composer
    Miguel de Fuenllana
    Ensemble
    Baltimore Consort
  17. 17 Una sanosa porfia 07:04
    Track
    17
    Title
    Una sanosa porfia
    Duration
    07:04
    Composer
    Juan del Encina
    Ensemble
    Baltimore Consort
  18. 18 Sagaleja del Casar 01:22
    Track
    18
    Title
    Sagaleja del Casar
    Duration
    01:22
    Composer
    Anonymous
    Ensemble
    Baltimore Consort
  19. 19 Cucu, cucu, cucucu 01:54
    Track
    19
    Title
    Cucu, cucu, cucucu
    Duration
    01:54
    Composer
    Juan del Encina
    Ensemble
    Baltimore Consort
  20. 20 Calabaca, no se, buen amor 01:59
    Track
    20
    Title
    Calabaca, no se, buen amor
    Duration
    01:59
    Composer
    Anonymous
    Ensemble
    Baltimore Consort
  21. 21 Tu madre cuando te pario 04:31
    Track
    21
    Title
    Tu madre cuando te pario
    Duration
    04:31
    Composer
    Traditional
    Ensemble
    Baltimore Consort
  22. 22 Yo me soy la morenica 02:35
    Track
    22
    Title
    Yo me soy la morenica
    Duration
    02:35
    Composer
    Anonymous
    Ensemble
    Baltimore Consort
  23. 23 Ay triste, que vengo 01:40
    Track
    23
    Title
    Ay triste, que vengo
    Duration
    01:40
    Composer
    Juan del Encina
    Ensemble
    Baltimore Consort
  24. 24 Oy comamos y bebamos 02:43
    Track
    24
    Title
    Oy comamos y bebamos
    Duration
    02:43
    Composer
    Juan del Encina
    Ensemble
    Baltimore Consort
  25. 25 Baila nena 02:19
    Track
    25
    Title
    Baila nena
    Duration
    02:19
    Composer
    Traditional
    Ensemble
    Baltimore Consort