Sunday concert

Here is the first half of the same Jordi Savall concert I posted yesterday. The program opens with three Moorish and Sephardic works performed on the album Orient, Occident, plus another not included on that album. The Follia theme appears in an anonymous 15th-century setting.

Savall peforms on the vielle instead of his customary viola da gamba.

Saturday baroque

I haven’t posted any music videos in a while, so here’s an entire baroque concert. It’s the baroque portion of a program presented by Jordi Savall (viola da gamba) and members of his ensemble Hespèrion XXI.

The stock tune “La follia” (also called “las folias,” “les folies d’Espagne,” etc.) is a theme of this concert. Countless musicians improvised on this simple Iberian melody, which evoked a mood of passionate longing. There’s an entire website devoted to this “most lasting and famous tune in western music.” This MIDI file plays the Follia theme by itself.

Antonio Martín y Coll: Diferencias sobre las folias
Jordi Savall performs variations on the Follia theme for viola da gamba. This Spanish piece dates from the early 1700s. Note the rhythmic back-and-forth between the viol and castanets in the last diferencia.

Jordi Savall & Cie.

Recovering yesterday from a little dental surgery, I gave myself an album I’d had my eye on for some time: Orient – Occident, a 2006 release from the superstar of historically informed performance, Jordi Savall, and his ensemble Hespèrion XXI. I’ve admired Savall since being given a copy of the soundtrack to the 1991 film […]