A small monastery was founded on a mountain in around 1025AD at Montserrat
in Catalonia. It developed into one of the most important places for both
pilgrimage and culture, a centre of remarkable musical productivity both in
terms of sacred and secular music. Its library was destroyed by fire during
the Napoleonic Wars in 1811, but the Libre Vermell (Red Book - as it was
covered in red velvet) survived the flames. This extremely important codex
includes a note from the copyist. This is to the effect that the songs
featured therein were recommended for pilgrims to sing - presumably to help
keep them awake - during the night vigil in the church square, having been
composed to fulfil this particular need. The songs were therefore a way of
providing more respectable and acceptable music than the coarser folk songs
and dances which would otherwise have been employed by the pilgrims on such
occasions.
This disc opens with the devotional and atmospheric canon
O Virgo
Splendens hic in monte celso, which is followed by
Stella splendens
in monte, a work in the form of a virelai. The latter is a French song
style which reached Spain via the Provencal troubadours and which was
possibly of Northern African origin. About half the works in the codex are
virelai.
The well-thought-through programme intersperses meditative and devotional
chants with more lively dances with catchy percussion, and ranges from the
ballad
Los set goyts recomptarem to the gentle and beautiful motet
Imperayritz de la ciutat joyosa. The short canon
Splendens
ceptigene is particularly effective, with good echo effects, and the
penultimate
Ad mortem festinamus with its brass and upbeat
percussion is really rather magnificent.
All the works featured are beautifully performed. The solo voice of
Montserrat Figueras is radiant and clear: strong but flexible. All
instrumentalists are of the highest standard. The recorded sound is also
good, with the venue of St Savinien appropriately resonant, whilst
nevertheless retaining immediacy and clarity.
An excellent disc.
Em Marshall-Luck
