Customer Reviews

Diáspora Sefardí: Romances & Música Instrumental

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Hespérion XXI (formerly Hespérion XX, but renamed to honour the new century) is one of the most accomplished ensembles specialising in the early music of the Iberian peninsula. It is one of the ongoing collectives led by the formidable Jordi Savall, renowned for his interpretations on the viol da gamba. The members are always changing, which makes the ensemble simply a name for a grouping of artists and interpreters of this immensely rich musical heritage, yet always under Savall's masterful direction. Diaspora Sefardi is a double-CD of music of the Sephardic Jews, a diverse culture originating in Spain and later settling in countries around the Mediterranean after their expulsion from most of Spain in 1492. Never losing sight of their basic identity as Jews or their awareness of their Spanish origins, the Sephardic culture gradually incorporated numerous influences from the peoples among whom it evolved: from the Arab culture of north Africa, from the Turks, Greeks, Bulgarians, Rumanians, Serbocroats, etc. In short, Sephardic music is an amazing blend of all these influences, immediately recognisable for its unique manifestation of this diversity.

Led by the impeccable soprano Montserrat Figueras, a generous collection of sephardic romances resides on disc one, and ten instrumental pieces are found on disc two. Savall (performing on lira, viola and rebab) is joined by some virtuoso players here: Pedro Estevan on percussions, Yair Dalal on oud, Andrew Lawrence-King on arpa doppia, Pedro Memelsdorff on flutes, and a handful of others on psaltry, qanun, laud, sarod and medieval harp. This recording differs in kind from other interpretations (by Savall or by countless other interpreters of this music) in that it employs a more diverse instrumentation that lies beyond the standard western European grouping of percussion, viol, flutes and harps, and rather embraces the instrumentations of eastern influences of this music (oud, qanun, sarod, etc.).

Disc one, subtitled "Por que llorax blanca nina" (Why do you weep fair child?) is a selection of beautiful songs, mostly from 16th and 17th century documents, though all of them look back much earlier to a very old tradition of songs. Montserrat Figueras is full of vitality, her breathtaking voice and accomplished techniques show her complete mastery of this challenging material.

Disc two, "Las estrellas de los cielos" (The stars in the sky), is a diverse collection of instrumental pieces, interpreted and performed to perfection by this ensemble. This second disc is the real jewel here. Even in the complexity of rhythms, fostered by Pedro Estevan's challenging techniques, the rhythms are extremely accessible, allowing the listener to move around within the multifaceted and subtle instrumentations. Some are traditional dance pieces, while others more meditative reflections and variations on the music of the popular romances.

Listening to this music is always a rewarding enterprise. Full of surprises, it never provokes the same response twice. This release comes highly recommended for the curious listener. It comes beautifully packaged with lyrics and an informative essay by Paloma Diaz-Mas.

After owning this CD for about 4 years, when my newborn daughter needed bedtime soothing I grabbed this (the 2nd CD). We listen to it nearly every night and I am never bored with it. It only bothers me a little when I find it getting stuck in my head during the day. I still enjoy sitting in the dark listening to it after 6 months. Beautiful moving music.

En este disco Jordi Savall y su grupo retoman el trabajo que emprendieron en discos anteriores sobre la música de origen judío ("Secular music from christian and jewish Spain" y los dedicados a la Sibila). El primer disco está compuesto por obras vocales que pertenecen a distintas expresiones de la diáspora judía a través de Europa, pero todas en ladino (lengua de los sefarditas o judíos españoles), interpretadas con una gran variedad de instrumentos (percusiones, flauta dulce, salterio, arpa, laúdes, etc.) sobre las que se alza la voz de Monserrat Figueras, que maneja bastante bien el estilo y el dramatismo requeridos, a pesar de que a mi juicio su interpretación es poco variada, y no se distingue tanto de sus versiones de música barroca italiana, por ej. El segundo disco trae sólo obras instrumentales, en las que se da un mayor espacio a la improvisación y la ornamentación, lo que considero bastante pertinente pare este tipo de música, y que realmente está muy bien lograda en este caso, permitiendo trabajar toda suerte de matices (el uso del aire por parte del flautista Pedro Memmelsdorff, por ejemplo). En todo caso, es necesario señalar que éste es un disco muy fresco, donde realmente se percibe un compromiso emotivo de los músicos con las obras, que pertenecen a un repertorio bastante poco trabajado en el campo de la música antigua, y sobre el cual todavía debe quedar mucho por investigar.

I ordered this album as a gift back in February. We are now towards the end of March and I just got an email from amazon that, oh dear, they are having trouble finding a copy to ship to my friend. Update: end of June, still they can't get it. For shame. It does sound like a marvellous, wonderful compilation, and I am very disappointed. So if you need your copy within any finite amount of time, perhaps consider getting it elsewhere.

I will update this review as I have more information. Good luck all!