MARE NOSTRUM
Orient-Occident : Dialogues

Refèrencia: AVSA9888

• Montserrat Figueras, Lior Emaleh
• Hespèrion XXI
• Jordi Savall

The essential idea behind all our CD-Books, and in particular this one devoted to Mediterranean civilisation, is to discover elements that can establish links between music and history. Or rather, to re-live and understand the key moments in our historical memory, thanks to the emotion and beauty of music, and in light of the reflections and commentaries of our historians, philosophers, writers and poets.

The essential idea behind all our CD-Books, and in particular this one devoted to Mediterranean civilisation, is to discover elements that can establish links between music and history. Or rather, to re-live and understand the key moments in our historical memory, thanks to the emotion and beauty of music, and in light of the reflections and commentaries of our historians, philosophers, writers and poets.

Our choice of music to illustrate this diversity was drawn from two main sources: the Sephardic, Berber, Greek, Arab, Hebrew, Andalus and Catalan oral traditions, and the medieval manuscript repertoires of the “trecento”, Cantemir and composers such as the great Greek maestro Angeli and the Ottoman Sultan Selim III, as well as the Taksims (improvisations) preceding the Ottoman Makams, and improvisations on traditional themes such as the Sephardic Romances or melodies and the wonderful Catalan melody El Cant dels Aucells, which is performed first in an instrumental version using early instruments and finally in a contemporary version to a poem by Manuel Forcano, consisting of a dialogue between the voice of Ferran Savall and the kanun, the oud, the kaval, the double bass and percussion.

+ information in the CD booklet

JORDI SAVALL
New York, 10/15th October 2011

Translated by Jacqueline Minett