Barroco Español, Volume 2
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Sebastián Durón, Antonio Martín y Coll, Antonio Literes (Carrión)
Label: Deutsche Harmonia Mundi
Magazine Review Date: 1/1996
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 62
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 05472 77336-2
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Veneno es de amor la envidia |
Sebastián Durón, Composer
Al Ayre Español Eduardo Lopéz Banzo, Conductor Sebastián Durón, Composer |
(El) Impossible mayor en amor le venze Amor, Movement: Donde vas |
Sebastián Durón, Composer
Al Ayre Español Eduardo Lopéz Banzo, Conductor Sebastián Durón, Composer |
(El) Impossible mayor en amor le venze Amor, Movement: Danae, cuya bellezza |
Sebastián Durón, Composer
Al Ayre Español Eduardo Lopéz Banzo, Conductor Sebastián Durón, Composer |
(El) Impossible mayor en amor le venze Amor, Movement: Oye, escucha, aguarda, espera |
Sebastián Durón, Composer
Al Ayre Español Eduardo Lopéz Banzo, Conductor Sebastián Durón, Composer |
Azis y Galatea, Movement: Seguidillas |
Antonio Literes (Carrión), Composer
Al Ayre Español Antonio Literes (Carrión), Composer Eduardo Lopéz Banzo, Conductor |
Azis y Galatea, Movement: Confiado gilguerillo |
Antonio Literes (Carrión), Composer
Al Ayre Español Antonio Literes (Carrión), Composer Eduardo Lopéz Banzo, Conductor |
Azis y Galatea, Movement: Monstruo, en quien ha sobrado |
Antonio Literes (Carrión), Composer
Al Ayre Español Antonio Literes (Carrión), Composer Eduardo Lopéz Banzo, Conductor |
Azis y Galatea, Movement: Azis dichoso |
Antonio Literes (Carrión), Composer
Al Ayre Español Antonio Literes (Carrión), Composer Eduardo Lopéz Banzo, Conductor |
Azis y Galatea, Movement: Coplas |
Antonio Literes (Carrión), Composer
Al Ayre Español Antonio Literes (Carrión), Composer Eduardo Lopéz Banzo, Conductor |
(Los) Elementos, Movement: Deydades que en el monte |
Antonio Literes (Carrión), Composer
Al Ayre Español Antonio Literes (Carrión), Composer Eduardo Lopéz Banzo, Conductor |
(Los) Elementos, Movement: Ay amor |
Antonio Literes (Carrión), Composer
Al Ayre Español Antonio Literes (Carrión), Composer Eduardo Lopéz Banzo, Conductor |
(Los) Elementos, Movement: Mas si fuese la planta fugitiva |
Antonio Literes (Carrión), Composer
Al Ayre Español Antonio Literes (Carrión), Composer Eduardo Lopéz Banzo, Conductor |
(El) Estrago en la fineza, o Jupiter y Semele, Movement: Pues soy abejuela |
Antonio Literes (Carrión), Composer
Al Ayre Español Antonio Literes (Carrión), Composer Eduardo Lopéz Banzo, Conductor |
(El) Estrago en la fineza, o Jupiter y Semele, Movement: Yo he de enmudecer |
Antonio Literes (Carrión), Composer
Al Ayre Español Antonio Literes (Carrión), Composer Eduardo Lopéz Banzo, Conductor |
(El) Estrago en la fineza, o Jupiter y Semele, Movement: Ven dulcissimo bien |
Antonio Literes (Carrión), Composer
Al Ayre Español Antonio Literes (Carrión), Composer Eduardo Lopéz Banzo, Conductor |
Flores de música, Movement: Ruede la Vola |
Antonio Martín y Coll, Composer
Al Ayre Español Antonio Martín y Coll, Composer Eduardo Lopéz Banzo, Conductor |
Flores de música, Movement: Discurso de ecos |
Antonio Martín y Coll, Composer
Al Ayre Español Antonio Martín y Coll, Composer Eduardo Lopéz Banzo, Conductor |
Flores de música, Movement: Cancion Franzesa |
Antonio Martín y Coll, Composer
Al Ayre Español Antonio Martín y Coll, Composer Eduardo Lopéz Banzo, Conductor |
Flores de música, Movement: Diferencias sobre la gayta |
Antonio Martín y Coll, Composer
Al Ayre Español Antonio Martín y Coll, Composer Eduardo Lopéz Banzo, Conductor |
Author: Tess Knighton
The CD is very much a showcase for the soprano Marta Almajano (the excellent Catalan baritone Jordi Ricart is featured on only two items) who, as on the first disc, proves to be more than equal to the challenge, singing expressively and with bravura as the music demands. Given the nature of this music, the recording comprises a series of fairly short items, but each quickly establishes a distinctive character and Al Ayre Espanol once again are clearly well under the skin of the idiom. Castanets and drums are confined to the most overtly popular items – for instance, the seguidillas and coplas from Literes’s renditon of the Acis and Galatea myth. His treatment of this theme is characteristic of the zarzuela with its mix of comic elements and allusions to mythology, making it quite different from Handel’s more dramatic, opera seria approach. In other ways, Literes’s musical idiom has many correspondences with Handel in Italianate vein. Perhaps the Italian influence is here at its clearest in the ‘fury’-type aria “Cielo a de ser el mar” delivered with great panache by Almajano.
There are so many other gems on this disc that it is hard to single out individual items, but try Duron’s “Ondas, riscos, pezes, mares” for plangent chromaticism – the Spanish composers were good at laments, one of the typical dramatic scenes that called for music. Duron’s “Yo no puedo” from El impossible mayor en amor is also inspired, as is the affecting simplicity of Literes’s “Adios dueno ermoso”, performed here with some impeccably delivered ornamentation from Almajano. Then there are plenty of lively arias – Literes’s “Fuego enzendido” from Los elementos is a good example – as well as pieces in which the Italianate musical idiom, featuring obbligato instruments, blends with traditional Spanish forms such as the estribillo and coplas: Literes’s “Pues soy abejuela” is particularly memorable. The instrumental items are, in fact, reworkings of arrangements of instrumental pieces for keyboard by Antonio Martin y Coll. This is reminiscent of operatic conventions of the time in which a man might sing the character of a woman dressed as a man, but given the paucity of Spanish sources of instrumental music from this period, the group is left with few options and the pieces work well enough, although inevitably there is little that is idiomatic about the writing. It is interesting that Martin y Coll’s collection includes works by Corelli and Lully in a reflection of the mix of Italian and French styles that are found in the Spanish theatre music repertory. The accompanying notes by Luis Robledo are very enlightening.
All in all, this is another enticing sample of the hitherto so little explored Spanish baroque in highly convincing performances by Al Ayre Espanol.'
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