Jordi Savall

The first album made by Jordi Savall for the Astrée label!

After Mr Marin Marais and Sainte Colombe, Jordi Savall presents another summit of music for viola da gamba in his Heritage collection. This 1975 disc confirmed Couperin as a master, if proof were needed, and of his affinitities with the masters of French music.

This remastered high definition multi-channel SACD and very informative booklet complete this reissue of a must-have of the Savall oeuvre.

This album gathers highlights from Montserrat Figueras’ career for the Astrée, DHM, EMI and Alia Vox labels. 5 of the 35 tracks have already been reissued in a portrait album released in the 1990s by Astrée, La 'Voix de l’ Emotion'. Jordi Savall wanted to keep the same title for this much more comprehensive double album, in tribute to the late Montserrat Figueras, his wife and collaborator of 43 years.

35 year-career: 35 tracks

These albums were recorded in 1976 and 1992 (the latter right after the tremendous success of the movie “Tous les Matins du Monde”.

Nevertheless, they are astonishingly consistent in their interpretative flair and enable us to discover 10 of the 67 “Concerts” composed by Mr. de Sainte Colombe. Each ‘Concert’ consists in an average of 4 pieces and last around 10 minutes. The most famous is the Concert: ‘Le Tombeau des Regrets’ and especially ‘Les Pleurs’ (The Tears), a masterpiece of emotion in which every note is essential.

Jordi Savall plays alongside with Wieland Kuijken, another great name of Baroque music and Viola.

This set gathers 2 albums released in 1990 and 1994.

Each of them definitely established Montserrat Figueras as one of the best performers of Claudio Monteverdi’s vocal music. At this time, she developed an innovative style of interpretation, characterised by great fidelity to historical sources, combined with an extraordinary creative and expressive power, that has exerted a decisive influence on the whole historical music movement.

Vocal music before 1800 required a new technical and stylistic approach capable of restoring to the beauty and emotion of the voice, that most human of all forms of expression, the necessary balance between singing and declamation, with an emphasis on the poetic and spiritual dimension of the text.

She is accompanied by Jordi Savall on CD1 and Ton Koopman on CD2.

This reissue in the Heritage series from 1988 enables us to hear Montserrat Figueras singing the repertoire she embodies like nobody else: traditional Catalan songs. This performance is the natural continuation of her exploration of the great works connected to Catalonia, e.g. the Song of the Sybil or the Red Book of Montserrat (Gregorian manuscript). On this shore of Mediterranean Sea, traditional and ‘classical’ repertoires are connected in a very intimate way. This album is a landmark of in the career of Montserrat Figueras: her innovative style of interpretation, characterised by great fidelity to the historical sources, combined with an extraordinary creative and expressive power, sounds at its best.

This second volume follows the critically acclaimed and best-selling Volume I, but is far from being only a continuation.

Thanks to different types of viol (treble and lyra) and particularly inspired rhythms coming from Frank McGuire on bodhran (an Irish frame drum), Jordi Savall has enriched his vision of this fascinating repertoire. Andrew Lawrence-King offers a perfect counterpoint on Irish harp and psaltery.

This album is organised in seven sets and enables us to discover many sides of a repertoire Jordi Savall explores with the steadiest and most respectful hand.

Booklet : English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Catalan, Gaelic

According to my good friend Wikipedia, the Concert spirituel was one of the first public concert series in existence. The concerts began in Paris in 1725 and ended in 1790. The series was founded to provide entertainment during Lent and on religious holidays when the other spectacles (the Paris Opera, Comédie-Française, and Comédie-Italienne) were closed. The programmes featured a mixture of sacred choral works and virtuosic instrumental pieces, and for many years took place in a magnificently-decorated Salle des Cent Suisses (Hall of the Hundred Swiss Guards) in the Tuileries Palace. They started at six o’clock in the evening and were primarily attended by well-to-do bourgeois, the lower aristocracy and foreign visitors. Jordi Savall brings these magnificent evenings back to life, thanks to an imaginary ‘concert spirituel’ programme featuring 3 major composers from Italy, Germany and France : Corelli, Telemann and Rameau. This album enables us to (re)discover the quintessence of the musical life during the reign of Louis XV. Enrico Onofri recently appeared at the Lufthansa Baroque Festival directing the European Union Baroque Orchestra and his own Ensemble Imaginarium.

Deluxe Digipack SACD

Booklet : English, Spanish, French German, Italian, Catalan, Gaelic, Irish

Thanks to in-depth researches on original manuscripts, Jordi Savall reveals the hidden beauties of Irish and Scottish music from the 17th to 19th centuries.The transcription from fiddle to treble baroque viol sounds so obvious that everyone realises the closeness of traditional and ancient repertoires immediately. Most of the pieces are irresistibly vivid and virtuoso, some are more melancholy, but all of them deserve the renaissance Jordi Savall offers them in his customary, masterly manner. And… for the first time in Alia Vox history, the cover art features a photo of Jordi Savall.

The first time Jordi Savall has recorded traditional repertoire, (replacing fiddle with baroque soprano viol)

The first time Jordi Savall appears on his own on the cover art.

The first time AV linernotes have been translated into Irish and Scottish (!)

Tarquinio Merula (1594 or 1595-1665) was an Italian composer, organist and violinist of the early Baroque era. Although mainly active in Cremona, stylistically he was a member of the Venetian school and one of the most progressive Italian composers of the early 17th century, a key figure in the early development of several forms such as the cantata, the aria, the sonatas da chiesa and da camera, variations on a ground bass and the sinfonia.

One of the finest albums ever recorded by Montserrat Figueras, she has developed a reputation for the interpretation of early vocal music combining historical fidelity with vitality. In the 1970s, she rose to eminence as one of a generation of musicians who realised that vocal music before 1800 required a new technical and stylistic approach with emphasis on the poetic and spiritual dimension of the text. With the quality of her voice and the expertise of the ensemble backing her, including Jordi Savall and Ton Koopman, she brings an intimacy to her performances few other vocalists can match. Earlier this year, Jordi Savall was appointed European Union ambassador for intercultural dialogue.This distinction, together with the title of “Artist for Peace” that he shares with his wife Montserrat Figueras, marks the culmination and recognition of his work over more than 30 years on behalf of neglected and marginalised musical traditions and cultures such as those which flourished Spain before the Christian reconquest, as well as the musical dialogue between East and West.