Dimitrie Cantemir, Hespèrion XXI, Jordi Savall – Istanbul: The Book of Science of Music (2009) [SACD / Alia Vox – AVSA 9870]
Title: Dimitrie Cantemir, Hespèrion XXI, Jordi Savall – Istanbul: The Book of Science of Music (2009)
Genre: Classical
Format: MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC
Jordi Savall’s continued interest in Mediterranean traditions brings him to Sephardic and Armenian music centered in Istanbul and an author who wrote The Book of the Science of Music, a volume that he discovered as he was preparing his earlier program Orient–Occident. Dimitrie Cantemir (1673–1723) had two brief spells as Prince of Moldavia but is better known as a leading intellectual of Eastern Europe and the only one with a reputation known in the West. His interesting background and career, told in the notes, need not be summarized here, but he grew up at the Sultan’s court while his father and brother were successive princes of Moldavia under the Sultan’s protection. Succeeding as prince, he transferred his allegiance to the tsar with disastrous results and spent his last 12 years in exile in Russia. His book contains 355 works, including nine of his own compositions, all notated in a system of his own devising. Seven works on this disc are makam taken from this source, another seven tracks are improvised preludes to each of them, and the remaining seven tracks are devoted to Sephardic and Armenian selections, the former drawn from Isaac Levy’s modern editions. Four other makam from the same book were heard in Orient–Occident.
While such an extended concert of unfamiliar and exotic instrumental music can be off-putting, repeated hearings become mesmerizing. The booklet identifies three separate groups of players for Turkish, Armenian, and Sephardic repertoire, but members of Hespèrion XXI are included in all three groups. The notes are printed in the label’s usual half-dozen languages as well as Turkish and Armenian (the last in its unique non-Roman alphabet). The 196-page booklet is lavish in its display of art and manuscripts of the period, photos of the performers, and the covers of the ensemble’s previous productions. The surround sound adds to the appeal of the production. Few labels are turning out such lavish albums as consistently and regularly as Savall’s own. – J.F. Weber, Fanfare “This is a typical Alia Vox Hesperion release: sumptuously packaged, richly illustrated, and supported by edifying scholarly notes about the music and its historical context. It’s recorded in clear yet atmospheric sound…In addition to the late Montserrat Figueras, there is wonderful singing by the Israeli Lior Elmaleh ad the Turk Gursoy Dincer.” BBC Music Magazine, June 2012 *****