In past centuries, instrumental performance practice went beyond a plain reading of the music written by its creators. It involved a fresh interpretation of the original text, adding or omitting voices, glosas or instruments, or simply using characteristic motifs as the basis for improvisation or the creation of new counterpoints.
In this programme, Accademia del Piacere seeks to recover the instrumental practice – in this case, the Hispanic tradition – and the approach to musical interpretation characteristic of the 16th and 17th centuries. It moves away from a superficial performance of the fantasias, variations and glosas – already created in that period as examples of a praxis – and focuses on genuine musical creation and performance according to historically informed criteria: the true aim and purpose of musicians in every age.
Fahmi Alqhai — viola da gamba & musical direction
Raquel Andueza — soprano
Rami Alqhai, Johanna Rose, Ignacio del Valle — violas da gamba
Juan Ramón Lara — violone
Enrike Solinís — baroque guitar, vihuela & colascione
Francisco Javier Núñez and Alberto Martínez Molina — harpsichord & organ
Pedro Estevan and David “Chupete” — percussion
Miguel Rincón — vihuela & theorbo
Arnau Rodón — Renaissance cornetto
David García and Ramón P. Peñaranda — sackbuts
Luis Castillo — dulcian
Tracklist
1. Di, perra mora
Anonymous (16th century)
Possibly composed by Pedro Guerrero, this piece from the Cancionero de Medinaceli (16th c.) tells a typical frontier story of the Spanish Renaissance: the sorrows of a Christian in love with a Moorish woman.
Di, perra mora,
di, matadora,
¿Por qué me matas,
y, siendo tuyo,
tan mal me tratas?
2. Marionas
Gaspar Sanz (1640-1710) & Fahmi Alqhai
The Aragonese Gaspar Sanz was one of the most prominent Spanish guitarists of the Baroque, and his three volumes of music in tablature are a benchmark for the Spanish dance repertoire of the period.
3. Canarios
Gaspar Sanz & Fahmi Alqhai
The canarios, whose origin is evident from their name, were among the dances that reached the Iberian Peninsula from overseas in the colonial era, and they became a regular feature of French operas at the court of Louis XIV. Here we hear an ensemble version of one of those published by Gaspar Sanz for guitar.
4. Fantasía sobre el Mille Regretz de Josquin
Enrike Solinís
As an introduction to the song with glosas on the next track, Enrike Solinís draws inspiration from Josquin’s famous piece.
5. Glosa sobre el Mille Regretz de Josquin
Fahmi Alqhai
Fahmi Alqhai makes his own diminution of the celebrated “Canción del Emperador” by the great master of polyphony, Josquin. Regarded as a favourite of Charles V, this beautiful chanson was set in their own versions by many Renaissance composers, such as the Spanish vihuelist Luis de Narváez.
Mille regretz de vous abandonner
Et d’eslongier vostre fache amoureuse.
J’ay si grant doeul et peine doloreuse
Qu’on me verra brief mes jours deffiner.
6. Dos estrellas le siguen
Manuel Machado (c. 1590-1646)
Fahmi Alqhai writes glosas on the song by Manuel Machado, the Portuguese harpist at the court of Philip IV.
Dos estrellas le siguen,
morena, y dan luz al sol.
Va de apuesta, señora,
morena, q’essos ojos son.
7. Corrente Italiana
Juan Cabanilles (1644-1712)
The corrente was an Italian dance; this one was originally written for organ and is sumptuously orchestrated here.
8. La dama le demanda
“Antonio de las obras” (Antonio Cabezón 1510-1566) & Fahmi Alqhai
Like today’s jazz musicians, 16th-century instrumentalists made their own versions of polyphonic songs, introducing variations and ornaments with which to show off their art of improvisation. The Spanish court organist Antonio de Cabezón was the great master of this art, called diminution, and here he arranges the famous chanson “Belle, qui tiens ma vie” for keyboard. Fahmi Alqhai in turn adapts it for viola da gamba and organ.
9. Diferencias sobre Guárdame las vacas
Improvisation & Fahmi Alqhai
The song “Guárdame las vacas” became hugely famous in the 16th century because its short chord progression (also known as the “romanesca”) served for countless improvisations, many of them found in Spanish vihuela books. Accademia del Piacere joins in the musical game of the period to play its own “vacas”.
10. Susana Passeggiata
Bartolomé de Selma y Salaverde (c. 1580-c. 1640)
The Spanish dulcian player Bartolomé de Selma y Salaverde made his career in Italy. We hear his glosa on Susanne un jour by Orlando di Lasso.
11. Tiento III en el primer tono
“Antonio de las obras” (Antonio Cabezón)
The Spanish tiento is a work of imitative polyphony, in the manner of an instrumental motet. We hear an example by the elder Cabezón.
12. Si la noche hace escura
Francisco Guerrero (1528-1599)?
Probably an early work by the great Guerrero, chapel master of Seville, this is a typical example of a secular villancico.
Si la noche hace escura
y tan corto es el camino,
¿cómo no venís, amigo?
La media noche es pasada
y el que me pena no viene;
mi desdicha lo detiene,
¡que nasçí tan desdichada!
Háceme vivir penada
y muéstraseme enemigo.
¿Como no venís, amigo?
13. Xácaras
Anonymous (17th century)
The jácaras were another of the successful Spanish dances of the 17th century, with a characteristic twelve-beat cross-rhythm, exactly in the manner of the later flamenco soleares.
14. Susana un jur glossada
Hernando de Cabezón (1541-1602) & Fahmi Alqhai
We hear another glosa on the famous Susana by Lasso, in this case by Hernando, son of Antonio de Cabezón.
