Humanos y Divinos - Cancionero de Uppsala
Baltazar Zúñiga (tenor)
Accademia degli Imperfetti
rec. 2020, Genova Molassana, Italy
No texts included
DA VINCI CLASSICS C00442 [56]
A substantial part of Spanish music of the 16th century consists of villancicos, songs that were originally secular in content, but with time could also be used for spiritual texts. Many villancicos have been included in songbooks, known as cancioneros, and today ensembles often turn to these books for their programmes. The disc under review here is devoted to one such songbook, which is today in the library of the University of Uppsala, and is therefore known as Cancionero de Uppsala. The present disc is the first of what is intended to be the first complete recording of this songbook.
The book comprises 54 pieces, all but one anonymous. The only composer explicitly mentioned in the book is the Franco-Flemish Nicolas Gombert. Other pieces can be identified by comparing them with pieces in other sources. The scoring varies from two to five parts, and the songs are included according to the number of parts. This suggests a pedagogical purpose, as this means that the most simple items come first, and the most complicated at the end. The turn to the spiritual is already notable here, as twelve villancicos are intended for Christmas. The latter fact is one of the reasons that some scholars believe that this songbook has its origin in Valencia, at the court of Fernando of Aragon, as Christmas had a special meaning for him. Chiara Bertoglio, in her liner-notes, writes that "it was believed that Fernando's ancestry dated back to Balthasar, one of the three Wise Men who, according to the Gospel of Luke, had worshipped the Child Jesus shortly after his birth". How the collection ended in the library of Uppsala is a still unsolved mystery.
As this disc is the first in an ambitious project of recording the entire songbook, it is regrettabe that the documentation is so poor. The booklet offers liner-notes which are informative as far as the character of the book is concerned, but does not include any specific information about the nature of the individual items. That is all the more disappointing as the lyrics are also omitted. Basically, the listener has no idea what these songs are about. He may recognize one of them, though: the disc ends with Riu riu chiu, which is often sung by choirs during Christmastide, for instance by the Choir of King's College Cambridge in its annual carol service. It is notable that Falalalán falalalera is musically almost identical with that piece.
Because of the lack of lyrics, it is hard to assess whether the performers do these villancicos real justice. Baltazar Zúñiga has a nice voice and sings in a relaxed manner, which I appreciate, but when I listened from start to finish in one sitting, I found the performances a bit too uniform. It is every time more of the same, so it seems. Jordi Savall and his ensemble Hespèrion XX have performed and recorded this repertoire, and their performances are more engaging, but historically also more questionable. The accompaniment in this recording, with viola da gamba and vihuela, may be more in line with the performance practice in the time this songbook was put together. Unfortunately we have to deal here again with a serious case of what I use to call percussionitis. There was a time that percussion was thought to be one of the features of Spanish music of the Renaissance, and an indispensable part of any performance. That is incorrect, and today many performers deliver more differentiated pictures of Spanish music. Here percussion is used in too many songs, and even in some of the instrumental pieces. There is really no reason why percussion should be used in a ricercada by Diego Ortiz.
Over the years I have heard Spanish villancicos regularly, as this is pretty popular repertoire. I often found such performances enjoyable, but although I appreciate the singing and playing on this disc, I am not sure that this is the way these songs should be performed. It seems advisable not to listen to this disc at a stretch.
Johan van Veen
www.musica-dei-donum.org
twitter.com/johanvanveen
Postcript
Da Vinci Publishing has informed us
that the texts, though not included in the booklet, are available at the
label's
website. Unfortunately, this link was not mentioned in the booklet or
inlay card of the CD supplied to our reviewer.
Contents
Diego Ortiz (c1510-1570)
Recercadas sobre el Canto llano
anon
Como puedo yo bivir
Con que la lavare
E la don don, Verges Maria
Enríquez de Valderrábano (fl 1547)
Soneto e Pavana
anon
Falalalán falalalera
Gozate virgen sagrada
No la devemos dormir
Enríquez de Valderrábano
Pavana sobre el primer grado/
Diego Ortiz
Recercada octava
anon
Rey a quien reyes adoran
Un niño nos es naçido
Luys Milán (c1500-after 1560)
Fantasia
anon
Verbum caro factum est
Bella de vos som amoros
Si la noche haze escura
Guglielmo Ebreo da Pesaro (c1420-after 1484)
La bassa Castiglia
anon
Teresica hermana
Señores, el que es nacido
Que farem del pobre
Diego Ortiz
Recercada segunda
anon
Ay luna que reluzes
Riu riu chiu la guarda
