15th Century Song and the Bowed Vihuela
Cantar alla Viola
rec. 27-30 July 2020, Ermita de la Mare de Déu Dels Torrents, Vimbodi-Poblet, Tarragona, Spain
DA VINCI CLASSICS C00503 [65:38]
This partnership of soprano Nadine Balbeisi and scholar and vihuelist Fernando Marin goes back about eighteen years and throughout that time they have researched and rediscovered the practice of singing with a viol (vihuela). The repertoire consists mostly of arrangements of motets, polyphonic songs or organ works from the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, fashioned in a way that they might well have been performed at the time, and are effective for this combination. As the songs are normally in three or four parts. the vihuela transcriptions have to carry the underlying polyphony.
Since the early medieval period, string instruments were considered more ‘sophisticated’ than wind instruments and the ability even to accompany oneself singing was considered a precious musical practice. Here we are offered twenty-two pieces, many of them Spanish, concentrating particularly on Francisco da Peñalosa who worked for most of his life in Seville. This is not surprising, as, being Spanish themselves, both of these performers know this music well and it enables them to illustrate how successful their project has been.
The two instruments used, pictured within the booklet, are slightly different but are inspired by 15th Century Spanish models. I quote “5 courses of gut strings without sound post. Walnut and Spruce. Made by Fernando Marin according to historic sources and procedures. The tuning is C-d”. The booklet clearly indicates which vihuela is being played. The booklet adds that “their sound evokes the ideal of the time period and blend perfectly with the sweetness of the human voice”. That, then, is the aim of the recording - but does it prove to be successful?
Nadine Balbeisi has a very light tone and a slightly folksy vocal quality which is not especially out of keeping with many of the pieces and indeed works very convincingly in Encina’s simple but memorable Ay Triste que vengo; she also tends to limit her dynamic shadings. The vihuela, of course, also has a limited dynamic range. However, this combination would have been heard more often in small, domestic settings, so this rather reserved style of presentation seems appropriate.
The problems that strike the listener fairly immediately are first that no texts are provided or any indication of where to find them and secondly, although the pieces chosen are in many ways very beautiful and performed expressively, their performance is almost entirely slow and often rather mournful with very little respite. There are just two opportunities to hear the vihuela on its own but one is a successful tabularisation of a keyboard work from a German manuscript. As well as the Spanish songs represented are French chansons and pieces by German composers like Isaac, but the Balbeisi’s approach does not really vary. However, the overall effect can be haunting.
The acoustic is generous and the recording, made in a wonderful medieval monastery, is full of atmosphere but sometimes lacks a clear balance and focus, obscuring the diction.
Gary Higginson
Contents
Francisco de PEÑALOSA (1470-1528) Nigra sum sed formosa [2.28]
Juan del ENCINA (1468-1529) Pues que mi triste penar [2.13]
PEÑALOSA Nina erguideme los ojos [2.12]
PEÑALOSA Que dolor mas me doliera [2.37]
PEÑALOSA Unica est Columba mea [2.50]
GILLES BINCHOIS (c.1400-1460) Tant plus ayme [6.16]
ANON -Original Fortuna desperata [2.10]
PEÑALOSA El triste que nunca os vio [2.50]
Heinrich ISAAC (c.1450-1517) Ein frolic wesen [2.16]
BINCHOIS Triste plaisir et douleureuse joye [5.04]
Alexander AGRICOLA (fl.c.1500) Belles sur toutes [2.10]
PEÑALOSA Alegraos, males esquivos [2.32]
ENCINA Ay triste que vengo [3.45]
Alonso DE ALBA (fl.c.1500) Ave Maria [3.25]
ENCINA Ay triste que vengo (vihuela only) [1.20]
AGRICOLA Tota pulcra est [2.15]
ISAAC Fortuna desperata [3.08]
BUXHEIMER ORGELBUCH (c.1460) Vil Lieber zit (vihuela solo) [2.21]
ISACC Al mein mut [3.07]
ISACC Suesser vatter herre got [3.13]
PEÑALOSA Pues vivo en perder la vida [3.00]
PEÑALOSA A tierras agenas [4.13]
