Paul Laird
Recording Reviews Editor
University of Kansas, Lawrence  

Baroque Cantatas and Villancicos by Juan Manuel de la Puente, Al Ayre Español/Eduardo López Banzo, Almaviva DSI-0102, 1994.

Poder á Santa María: Andalucia in the "Cantigas de Santa María". Sinfonye/Stevie Wishart, Almaviva DSI-0 105, 1994.

De los Alamos de Sevilla: 16th Century Spanish Vihuela Music Printed in Seville. Juan Carlos Rivera, vihuela, Almaviva DSI-0 106, 1994.

"Ave Maris Stella": Música de la Catedral de Sevilla dedicada a la Virgen María, ca. 1470-1550. Orchestra of the Renaissance/Richard Cheetham, Almaviva DS-0115, 1995.

These four recordings are part of a fine series called "Musical Heritage of Andalucia" that is produced with the backing of the Autonomous Government of Andalucia. Early Spanish music has hardly been ignored by the recording industry in recent years, especially since the 1992 Columbian Quincentenary, but one must applaud a Spanish government agency assisting in the production of good quality recordings. The series includes both Spanish artists and those from other countries, and the project benefits greatly from its international scope. Liner notes are most informative and texts usually are provided. Other recordings in the series include The Hilliard Ensemble singing Morales's Missa Mille Regretz (DSI-0101), guitarist María Esther Guzmán playing music by Julián Arcas (DSI-0103), and the Orquesta de la Ciudad de Granada playing 19th-century Spanish symphonic music (DSI-0104), among others.

The Baroque villancico is poorly represented on recordings, and works of many fine composers remain to be discovered in archives. The Andalucian composer honored here is Juan Manuel de la Puente (1692-1753), chapelmaster for many years at Jaén Cathedral. His two villancicos and five cantatas recorded here were written for the feasts of Christmas, Corpus Christi, Assumption, Holy Trinity, and St. Peter. The texts, in Spanish, range from the imaginative to the sentimental, and the musical style of the works is highly Italianate. De la Puente learned his lessons well in Italian recitative and aria, and composed homophonic choruses with active orchestral accompaniments. His music is delightfully energetic and carries a refreshing touch of innocence and variety in melodic and rhythmic construction.

The performances by Al Ayre Español are excellent, among the finest available of villancicos on disc. Director Eduardo López Banzo has a lively and theatrical sense for this music. The good vocal quartet includes soprano Marta Almajano, mezzo-soprano Xenia Meijert, tenor Pedro Ormazabal, and baritone Jordi Ricart. They are joined by a period orchestra of three violins, cello, bassoon, violone, harp, a player of lute, theorbo, and guitar, and harpsichord. Harp or organ are more likely to have been used as a continuo instrument in Spanish cathedrals than harpsichord or a plucked-string instrument. The four voices are sometimes overmatched by the instruments, and the microphone placement is a bit close, but this is a most worthwhile release. Al Ayre Español has also released an excellent disc of Baroque villancicos (Deutsche Harmoni Mundi 77325) by Literes, Galán, Torres, Valls, and Iribarren.

The theme of the cantigas recording in this series is the representation of Andalucia in the works, a sensible angle considering that the region was part of Alfonso el Sabio's kingdom, and he died in Seville. The story of "Poder a Santa María," for example, takes place in the Kingdom of Jaén, and other cantigas are stories of miracles in and around Seville and Córdoba. Emphasizing their Andalucian focus, Sinfonye gives this disc a decidedly Arab cast. The singers emphasize a folk music sound, much like the cantigas recordings of the Clemençic Consort (Deutsche Harmonia France 2901524),but the singers on this disc have a more pleasing tone quality. The expressive singers here include Equidad Barés, Vivien Ellis, Stevie Wishart, and Paula Chateauneuf. Sinfonye sings all refrains in unison, a useful change in texture in these lengthy songs. Instrumentalists in Sinfonye include Wishart on fiddles and sinfonye (a hurdy-gurdy), Chateauneuf (oud), and Jim Denley (percussion). Wishart is one of the finest medieval fiddlers I have heard. One is impressed with the leisurely pace of this disc and the improvisatory quality of the performances.

The disc by vihuelist Juan Carlos Rivera honors two important collections of vihuela music published in Seville, including books by Alonso Mudarra (1546) and Miguel de Fuenllana (1554). Some might find this a strange approach to programming, but the Spanish music printing industry in the 16th Century was very small. Any published music was an event. Juan Carlos Rivera plays very cleanly and with excellent musicianship. His work compares most favorably with that of Hopkinson Smith, who has recorded two discs of Mudarra's music (Astrée 8740 and Astrée 8533), the latter with soprano Montserrat Figueras. Rivera plays fantasias with fine understanding of counterpoint and musical direction, and in vihuela transcriptions of popular songs he projects a convincing, jaunty spirit. He covers the wide range of vihuela music popular at the Spanish courts, from popular music to intabulations of religious music by Josquin and Morales. The sound is very delicate, like that of the vihuela.

The final disc reviewed here is listed as part of Almaviva's "Serie Clásica," different from the previous discs. Here is approached the rich musical tradition of Seville Cathedral during the middle of Renaissance, before the years of Guerrero, but when the cathedral employed composers like Peñalosa and was the training ground for Morales. Other composers represented on the disc include Escobar, Medina, Ceballos, and Palero.

After Seville was re-conquered from the Moors in the 13th Century, the new cathedral was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, so Marian feasts were celebrated with special fervor. All works on this disc were written for these celebrations. The musical chapel at Seville Cathedral included a rich mixture of singers and instrumentalists. The Orchestra of the Renaissance is ten musicians playing instruments known to have been used at Seville Cathedral in 1526: cornettos, shawms, dulcians, flutes, organ, vihuela, viol, and harp. The ensemble is largely British and includes prominent period musicians, including harpist Andrew Lawrence-King and vihuelist Christopher Wilson. The choir is seven excellent male voices with fine intonation and blend. Instruments play on almost every track, and delightfully full scorings are heard in Morales's Missa de beata virgine.

Its five movements are spaced through the recording, like a Mass Ordinary is heard in a service. The alternation of chant and polyphony, both with instruments, in Fernando Pérez de Medina's Salve regina is a special moment, as is the same text sung as a solo chant setting by countertenor at the end of the disc. The sound is beautiful. The extensive liner notes, in both Spanish and English, are by Robert Stevenson and Tess Knighton.