Released in 2016, this compilation of recordings made between 1976 and 2011 resurrects a dreamed-of Spain, when peoples and religions enjoyed a harmonious exchange prior to the Reconquista.
The first part of this double album presents the incredible Spanish cultural melting pot: Judeo-Arabic influences mingle with music written for Alfonso X the Wise of Castile. The second part is devoted to how this dead Spain was imagined by musicians from the beginning of the twentieth century, such as Debussy, Turina and Manuel de Falla. To this list we might also add Maurice Ravel, another figure who was particularly sensitive to Spanish influences.
It is with a certain pleasure that we return to the Atrium Musicae in Madrid, which was run by that fiendish musician, the pioneer Gregorio Paniagua, half-musicologist, half-fantastical inventor of a vanished world. All the ambiance of Arab-Andalusian music is reflected in this 1976 recording, which also features works by Miguel Sánchez, The Dufay Collective and Clément Janequin, conducted by Dominique Visse. The second album brings together pianists Alain Planès, Albert Guinovart, Anthony Spiri, Javier Perianes and mezzo-soprano Bernarda Fink. If Nights in the Gardens of Spain (by Falla) is also missing, it is because the material is very rich and the list could be added to endlessly... © François Hudry/Qobuz