Track Listing

1. I. Folias Antiguas: Folia: Rodrigo Martinez
2. I. Folias Antiguas: Recercada Quarta Sobre La Folia
3. I. Folias Antiguas: Folia: Para Quien Crie Cabellos
4. I. Folias Antiguas: Recercada Ottava Sobre La Folia
5. I. Folias Antiguas: Folia: Hoy Comamos Y Bebamos
6. II. Diferencias Sobre Las Folias
7. III. Follias
8. IV. Couplets De Folies

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #96549 in Music
• Released on: 1999-02-09
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

Customer Reviews

A master's musical magic
Jordi Savall's special talent for reviving lost or obscure music is no better illustrated than by this album. The "Folia" are country dances, sometimes frenetic in their rendition, other times sedate and even-paced. The full range of those characteristics are presented in this collection of interpreters of the "folia" idiom. From Roderigo Martinez in the last years of the 15th Century to the Versailles Court musician Marin Marais two centuries later, Savall provides a glorious musical tour of time and place. He seems almost to transport himself away from the present as he plays. Time and space are compressed to an environment limited only by the music's expressiveness. With the roots in peasant dances, that's a wide space which Savall fills with delightful playing. The broad spectrum of styles in the pieces grant this CD an equally expansive audience.

Savall's group, whose renditions of these pieces can only be described as exquisite, is the core of later ensembles. Each member brings a strong sense of the professional to the music. Even given such a background team, it is Savall's rich, precise and meaningful use of the da gamba that rightly predominates. He is an undisputed master of evoking the fullest expression the instrument can produce. The music leaves the listener breathless even when but seated as an audience. What must it be like for a professional dance troupe to perform to these sometimes frantic tones? The entire performance is dazzling and inspiring. This CD could be considered the acme of his performances - a judgment tempered only by knowledge of later and even more glorious releases.

Alia Vox has taken the lead in producing the most superior of recording techniques for Savall's musical skills. Savall is more than just the leading viola da gambist in the world. He could be elevated to the finest musician without overreaching his abilities. The sounds are crisp and elevating. It's easy to see why "La Folia" is considered a "desert island" CD choice by many. Listen to it for yourself, with one you love, and endear yourself to someone by offering it as a gift. In all cases, the rewards are valuable. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Amazing variety and delight
This collection contains dances and variations written on an old Spanish dance pattern. While the entire disc can be said to include only a handful of different harmonies, the endless sets of variations are anything but boring. Instead, they constitue a musical journey that takes you through three countries and over two hundred years of music-making.

The journey begins in Spain, around the time Columbus made his famous voyages. The first variations are filled with spirit and joy and are both wild in nature and yet refined and exquisite under Savall's fingertips. After a set of five wonderful pieces, there next comes a later Spanish piece for gamba, continuo, and...castanets! This piece concludes with a rousing col legno section that needs to be heard to be believed.

Next is a great rendition of Corelli's Follias, also known as his 12th violin sonata. The volin part is played in a period arrangement for gamba, and Savall uses the treble instead of the bass viol for the part, which sounds great and offers a good opportunity to comapre the treble viol to the violin. Under Savall's touch, the viol gives the violin a run for the money! Great fun.

Lastly, we have Marais' masterful Follias d'Espangne, and after hearing them performed like they are here, what more can be said? This CD would make a wonderful purchase for yourself or a friend, and would be a great way to introduce someone to early music. This disc is yet another reminder of why Jordi Savall, as the previous reviewer so well put it, deserves to be considered among the top musicians of our day. Alia Vox does a great job of presenting these discs in great packages and with wonderful sound quality. The days of second-rate period instrument performances are coming to a close.

a favorite
This compilation of Spanish-insprired dance music is often in the player. It's tuneful and accessible. A similar collection by the Purcell Quartet feels more stilted and less joyful.

I would also recommend Savall's Elizabethan Consort Music, and Espanoleta by Chatham Baroque.