This release in Harmonia Mundi's budget Musique d'Abord line is a reissue of a discontinued disc from 2004. Continuing interest in the music is understandable, for these composers of the Spanish Baroque, with the exception of Juan Bautista Cabanilles, remain almost unknown for general listeners outside the Iberian sphere. Conductor Eduardo López Banzo, a student of Gustav Leonhardt, is unapologetic about presenting a selection of worthwhile compositions rather than trying to bring together, as he puts it, "works of a ...
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This release in Harmonia Mundi's budget Musique d'Abord line is a reissue of a discontinued disc from 2004. Continuing interest in the music is understandable, for these composers of the Spanish Baroque, with the exception of Juan Bautista Cabanilles, remain almost unknown for general listeners outside the Iberian sphere. Conductor Eduardo López Banzo, a student of Gustav Leonhardt, is unapologetic about presenting a selection of worthwhile compositions rather than trying to bring together, as he puts it, "works of a doubtful level of quality chosen only because they might have been performed on this or that memorable occasion in the past." There is no need to make such a questionable categorical statement, but in this case the position is justifiable: the first order of business for many listeners will be to get the lay of the compositional land. And, from the evidence here, Banzo is right to champion this music. The vocal pieces reflect Italian styles but nevertheless have a characteristically...
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