Secular Music From Spain - CD

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Before their expulsion in 1492, the Jews of medieval Spain developed a rich and lively culture, including an exquisite repertory of songs called --and they kept that repertory alive as they settled in places as diverse as Morocco, Bosnia, Turkey, and Bulgaria. Lovely as the are, they would have languished as the objects of ethnomusicological studies and might have disappeared altogether, were it not for the efforts of gifted musicians like Hesprion XX. Jordi Savall and his ensemble, fronted by the unique soprano Montserrat Figueras, just about single-handedly brought those songs to the attention of the modern public with this 1976 recording (now reissued at a bargain price). Disc 1 features a selection of secular music from "Christian" Spain--that is, the courts of Ferdinand and Isabella and the Catholic nobility. The music is elegant and occasionally austere, but Figueras, Savall, and colleagues give the livelier pieces a flavorful swing. Yet disc 2, which features the Sephardic songs, is the real drawing card here. It was in Moorish Spain that Jewish culture flourished, so Hesprion XX performs the with Arabic instruments, such as the (the ancestor of the European lute) and hand drums. These musicians, rechristened Hesprion XXI in honor of the new century, perform this repertory with more polish now than they did in 1976, but--just as did for Hildegard von Bingen--this recording made its own little bit of musical history.

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