Customer Reviews

Padilla: Music of the Mexican Baroque

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To the uninitiated, the quality of choral music composed and performed in Mexico during the first half of the 18th century is astounding. Spanish-born composer Juan Gutierrez de Padilla was thoroughly versed in the "a cappella" style of the High Renaissance before moving to Mexico. Once there he may have felt like Haydn during his years in Eisentadt: voluntarily exiled to musical backwaters where he was free to experiment and nurture his unique musical personality. Careful listenings to this excellent recording reveal some exquisite compositional characteristics of the nascent Baroque, but the overall impression is late Renaissance, in all its glory. Conductor/producer Peter Rutenberg has shaped Padilla's music -- much of it for double choir -- beautifully. Phrases are finely modulated and dynamics enhance their direction. The straight-tone intonation of the Los Angeles Chamber Singers' Cappella is spot on: you could drive a truck through some of their final chords. And the rhythmic interplay between duple and triple -- so important in any performance of Renaissance polyphony -- is carefully interpreted throughout. In all, this fine recording is a welcome introduction, to quote Rutenberg's well-written liner notes, to "the first flowering of Mexico's Golden Age in a garden that was to reach full bloom with the music of Manuel de Zumaya and Ignacio de Jerusalem 100 years later."

Music of the Mexican Baroque is collection of haunting songs of voice. This one is perfect for that candlelit dinner for two. If you forgot anyone these past holidays, give them the treasure of Mexican Baroque and their musical lives will never be the same.

if you haven't heard it, you don't know what you're missing. It's exhilarating to hear 8 part a capella music performed so impeccably. My favorite piece is #7 "Circumdederunt...". It is so pristine, gives me goosebumps. Too bad there's no sample to hear.

Amazing music. Wonderfully performed. Extra fine musicality and taste

I work in Mexico, and have been to the cathedral where Padilla first transferred his notes into a vocal symphony. The context of the late colonial / early historic period in Mexico was a tearful time in the history of this country, and Padilla seems to have captured the beauty and depth of religious passion that prevailed at this time. This modern recording brings back to life the times of colonial Mexico, that have literally not been heard for hundreds of years. Ruttenburg did a supurb job with his vocalists, and with the high fidelity recording.