This remarkable recording appeared in late 1999, and represents an achivement of significant scope. There is no question that it belongs in the collection of every individual interested in music from Spain, and also in every research library around the world.
     Already highly praised in the pages of Gramaphone Magazine, an undertaking of this nature represents a particularly strong and fortuitous comingling of research and performance.  The two principals in this undertaking Michael Noone and Richard Cheetham make it quite clear that their goal was, ”… an attempt to imagine the Requiem Mass and Burial Service that was celebrated in Seville’s great Cathedral after the death of the composer [in 1599].”
     The central work is Guerrero’s Requiem.  The parts of this service not set in polyhony are sung in plainchant.  The music for the mass is framed by processional ‘motets’ played by the band, one by Guerrero and the second by Juan Esquivel. 
      The Absolution ceremony consists of three additional polyphonic settings of the texts “Hei mihi”, and “Libera me” and Kyrie, by Guerrero, a “Pater noster” by Josquin des Prez and three additional texts sung in plainsong. Space constraints preclude a complete explication of the service here.  Suffice it to say, those who venture into this recording are in for some truly remarkable musical experiences.
     Michael Noone reminds us of the long publication history of Guerrero’s Requiem (1559(?)-1582), and also explains the choices made for this performance. He also identifies the sources of the plainsong melodies (Francisco de Montanos’ Arte de canto llano,1610). But none of the historical material could prepare the hearer for the incandescent performances, especially those found in the Kyrie, the Tract, “Absolve”, and the Agnus Dei.  Quite simply, one does not hear better performances than this, and what a wonderful feast these movements provide the ears, most especially the excellent playing by the ‘orchestra’.  This is a recording not to be missed by anyone. [Glossa Music S. L, GCD 92140, 1999] 
--wjs
 

¡Jácaras! 18th-Century Spanish Baroque Guitar Music of Santiago de Murcia ; Paul O’Dette, baroque guitar (with Andrew Lawrence King, harp and psaltery; Pedro Estevan, percussion; Pat O’Brien, Steve Player, baroque guitars), Harmonia Mundi HMU 907212, 1998.

Danza y diferencias: Santiago de Murcia; Richard Savino, baroque guitar (with Mauro Refosco and Yousif Sheronick, percussion); Koch Classics KIC CD-7445, 1998.

     While recordings of colonial-era sacred music from Latin America are being released in ever increasing quantities (and increasing quality), due to the relative lack of instrumental music by Baroque and Classic-era Iberian and Latin American composers in American collections, recordings of Latin American (and Spanish) early instrumental music are fewer in number.  Thus, the two recordings by O’Dette and Savino of guitar music by Santiago de Murcia reviewed here are of special interest for their intrinsic musical merit and for the fact they have helped expose Murcia’s music and Iberian/Latin American early music to a larger public. 
     Because of their musical interest and historical importance, the compositions and arrangements of Spanish guitarist and music teacher Santiago de Murcia (born circa 1682?; died after circa 1737?), author of Resumen de acompañar la parte con la guitarra (1714/1717), Passacalles y obras de guitarra (1732), and the Códice Saldívar No. 4 have attracted the attention of performers and scholars alike.  While the major study (and transcription) of Murcia’s work is Craig Russell’s Santiago de Murcia’s "Códice Saldívar No. 4": A Treasury of Guitar Music from Baroque Mexico (University of Illinois Press, 1995, 2 vols.), other scholars have called attention to Murcia’s music, including Robert Stevenson, Michael Lorimer, Monica Hall, and Gerardo Arriaga.  Their studies (and editions) have provided performers such as O’Dette and Savino with the impetus to undertake these recording projects.
     Though Spanish-born, Murcia may well have spent time in Mexico.  The discovery of manuscript copies of his music (the Códice Saldívar No. 4 and the Passacalles y obras de guitarra) in Mexico and the inclusion of several New World dances in Murcia’s work have led Russell and others to speculate that he may have lived and worked in New Spain.  (Hence the American connection.)
     While there is some duplication of pieces between the two recordings, taken together they give a fine and representative cross section of Murcia’s output (including his arrangements of Corelli’s music).  Whereas Savino’s are solo performances with some pieces accompanied by percussion, O’Dette, with the assistance of several virtuoso sidemen, performs Murcia’s original music and his arrangements as solos and in ensemble versions (using harp, psaltery, several other baroque guitars, and percussion), notably the earthy Jácaras por la E. Both recordings present pieces requiring different guitar techniques (rasgueado, punteado, entresinas, campanellas, golpe), and pieces with different purposes (dance music, chamber music).
     These two recordings are equally attractive, and for different reasons.  Both recordings are wonderfully interpreted (and well engineered) and vividly show O’Dette and Savino’s mastery of baroque guitar technique and stylistic im-provisation.  Happily, harpist An-drew Lawrence King, one of the most important interpreters on early harp, is given a featured role in several of the pieces on O’Dette’s recording.  He too is a marvelous performer and his performances (based on intense first-hand study of printed and manuscript sources) give us direct insights into possible Iberian and Latin American harp performance practices.
     For the sake of comparison, readers of this review are referred to an earlier recording of Murcia’s Passacalles y obras and excerpts from the Códice Saldívar No. 4 by Gerardo Arriaga (a Mexican guitarist and musicologist) which may still be available: Obras para guitarra barroco: Santiago de Murcia (RTVE AME-001, recorded 1987).  Performed without any instrumental backup (unlike the recordings by O’Dette and Savino), Arriaga’s interpretations are elegant and stylish and his recording is worth seeking out.
     It is to be hoped that the interest shown in Murcia’s music by such an internationally-known performer as Paul O’Dette will influence other performers to investigate, perform, and record early Latin American and Spanish instrumental music (solo, chamber, and orchestral).  Limiting possible suggestions for future projects to eighteenth and early-nineteenth century Mexican sources (others exist elsewhere in Latin America), worthy candidates for modern performance (and/or editing) include Biblioteca Nacional MS 1560 (Mexico City), the Códice Saldívar No. 2, the Eleanor Hague Manuscript (Southwest Museum, Los Angeles), the Mexican musical manuscripts at the Sutro Library (San Francisco), a collection of sonatas in the Mexico City Cathedral music archive, and Juan Antonio de Vargas y Guzmán’s Explicación para tocar la guitarra of 1776).  In the future, musicologists working in archives in Spain and Latin America will no doubt continue to ferret out previously hidden sources of instrumental music.  Additional findings will give a clearer picture of this important aspect of daily musical life. These two recordings help a great deal in this ongoing effort.

JOHN KOEGEL  
 

RECENTLY RECEIVED RECORDINGS AND PUBLICATIONS

     The items pictured here represent important new work in the field of Latin American music scholarship and performance. Their introduction here is intended to alert members of the Study Group to their existence, and to highlight the work of scholar/musicians, especially those making their first contributions the field.

     Three new compact discs, prepared or conducted by Fr. Piotr Nawrot being our listing of new materials.  Two contain recordings made during the Second Festival of Baroque and Renaissance Music held in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, 1998. 

     The third, Baroque Music II, is the second recording conducted by Fr. Nawrot featuring music edited in the series Musica de los Archivos Coloniales de Bolivia. 

     The fourth recording by Gabriel Carrido is in the Series Les Chemins du Baroque, and is of the Solemn Vespers for John the Baptist by Roque Ceruti.  The Vespers was reconstructed by Bernardo Illari and Piotr Nawrot.

     The fifth, America Portugesa by Edmundo Hora, was recorded in 1999.  Eighteenth- and early 19th-century sacred works from Colonial Brazil are featured.

     A study and cassette recording, Pa que coman las Almas:la muerte en el allto loa, was produced in 1997 by Claudia Mercado, Patricia Javiera Rodríuez, and Pablo Miranda. It is a field study of rituals for all Saints in the village of Ayquina and Caspan, Chile.

The final item is a edition of Pasión y Muerte de N. S. Jesucristo, by Piotr Nawrot, Claudia Prudencio and Maria Eugenia Soux. Both the score and multiple continuo parts (6) are available for the editor.  This collection of music related to the passion and death of Christ represents a new milestone in the research and editing of music from the archives of Bolivia.