Customer Reviews

Los Ministriles: Spanish Renaissance Wind Music

5 star:		(3)
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A magnificent recording with enthralling melodies that will lift up your spirits. The bagpipes and flute pieces are simply wonderful. In quality, variety and every other aspect, Los Ministriles is certainly comparable to "Sinners and Saints", the great amazon.com Renaissance dance music favorite, the only difference being that this CD only contains instrumental music (no songs).

It is just too bad very few people are aware of it.

I saw a performance by the Globe Theatre that included a wonderful 5-piece English Renaissance musical ensemble. I went looking for some music like that --- music that included viols, lute, wind, reed, and percussion instruments. The particular sound wasn't easy to find, despite a plethora of English Renaissance CDs. This album of Spanish music from the 15th and 16th centuries actually came closer to the sound I was looking for. It alternates between haunting minor key melodies --- pavanes and the like --- and faster, livlier dance tunes. They're a wind ensemble, but there's actually a tune for solo lute. A lot of variety in a memorable and reasonably priced CD. I highly recommend it. (Although I hope Piffaro will consider recording a CD of English Renaissance music!)

'Los Ministriles, Spanish Renaissance Wind Music' is, I believe, the Philadelphia band, Piffaro's second or third album and I really find it more enjoyable than their parallel album on Italian Rennaissance music. The instruments are virtually identical, with a fair mix of stringed instruments added to round out the sound, but I really enjoyed the overall listening experience more. So, if you are unfamiliar with this band, get this album before the Italian or French albums.

This is an interesting contrast to the works of Begona Olavide and the Eduardo Paniagua Group' of which Olavide is a member. This Spanish group specializes in Medieval and Renaissance stringed instruments. And, from a purely subjective reaction, I prefer their work to Piffaro. I also think their scholarship is more interesting, but then, they are all Spanish, and Spanish specialists, so that is to be expected.

The visceral preference may be the only one worth banking on.

Worth the money, Olavide and Paniagua may be greater value.