reviews
CD Review
La Folia 1490-1701
Music by: Corelli, Marais, Martín y Coll, Ortiz & Anónimos
Performed by Jordi Savall and others. (Aliavox label)
The simplicity and nobility of La Folia has inspired literally dozens of composers from the 1500s to the present day. Folias had its origins in the late Middle Ages and was first mentioned in Portuguese documents at the end of the 15th century. As the Folia melody and chord structure became more standardised, it emerged over time as one of the favourite “ground basses” upon which composers built intricate sets of variations.
This recording brings together the great Spanish viol virtuoso Jordi Savall and a number of members of his core ensemble, Hysperion XX. Given the immense historical significance of the melody the fact is, this is a recording that you can just sit back and enjoy. Jordi Savall plays both the treble and the bass viol in such an engaging way that one soon comes to understand why La Folia has had such an hypnotic effect over the centuries.
Savall is also a great improviser and those with keen ears will note that Jimmy Hendrix and Eric Clapton were not the first instrumentalists to solo effortlessly above a simple, captivating chord progression. Also featured is a superb rendering of Marais’ mammoth La Folia variations which The Marais Project will perform later in 2003 with The Early Dance Consort. Buy, play…enjoy.
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As far as we know, this is the first complete recording of the cello suites on the gamba, and certainly the first recording by a performer of Pandolfo’s stature. Bach himself transcribed one of the cello suites for lute so the process has a solid foundation.
As Pandolfo himself writes, “The practice of transcribing a work for an instrument different from the original was widely diffused throughout the centuries, and it is well known that Bach often transcribed his own compositions for other instruments”. Pandolfo has adopted a process he calls “elaboration” to realise the suites on gamba: the underlying principle being attention to the musicality of his version on the gamba, rather than trying to attain strict note-for-note accuracy to the original cello version.
How does it sound?
Well, the playing is wonderful, the music is inspiring, and the sound is, well, like a gamba! Having only heard the suites on the cello, the tone of the gamba was at first off-putting, but one quickly entered into Pandolfo’s approach and the recording has taken pride place in our CD collection.
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