Ensemble leader Jordi Savall's specialties lie in the imaginative reconstruction of early music in Europe, especially on its fringes, as well as in the literature of his own instrument, the viol. However, in the latter part of his career, he has sometimes ventured into the High Baroque and even beyond, putting his stamp on music as far forward in time as Beethoven. Stepping outside one's area of expertise is a risky course, but Savall is indisputably a great musician, and his readings are always intriguing and often quite ...
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Ensemble leader Jordi Savall's specialties lie in the imaginative reconstruction of early music in Europe, especially on its fringes, as well as in the literature of his own instrument, the viol. However, in the latter part of his career, he has sometimes ventured into the High Baroque and even beyond, putting his stamp on music as far forward in time as Beethoven. Stepping outside one's area of expertise is a risky course, but Savall is indisputably a great musician, and his readings are always intriguing and often quite engaging. This reading of Bach's Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248, is both. The Christmas Oratorio consists of six separate cantatas, designed for performance in six different churches, but it nevertheless manifests a unity, thanks to the texts as well as to Bach's musical thinking. Savall brings a brisk, even hard-driving approach that carries the listener through the Christmas narrative represented by the whole. His tempos in the big choruses are quick, but they never overwhelm the...
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