Mondavi Center Presents
Jordi Savall & Hespèrion XXI
Le Nuove Musiche: The Baroque Revolution in Europe
For more than 50 years, Jordi Savall, one of the most versatile musical personalities of his generation, has rescued musical gems from the obscurity of neglect and oblivion and given them back for all to enjoy.
A tireless researcher into early music, he interprets and performs the repertory both as a gambist and a conductor. This program, featuring his acclaimed ensemble Hespèrion XXI, captures the inventiveness of the early Baroque era, including works by Frescobaldi, Kapsberger, de’ Cavalieri, Falconiero and more. As the critic Allan Kozinn wrote in The New York Times, Savall’s vast concert and recording career can be described as “not simply a matter of revival, but of imaginative reanimation.”
Run Time: 75 minutes with no intermission
Program List
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Capricci in musica a tre voci (Milan, 1564)
Vincenzo Ruffo (ca. 1508–1587)
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Rappresentatione di Anima, et di Corpo (Rome, 1600)
La Pellegrina: Intermedii et concerti (Siena, 1589)Emilio de’ Cavalieri (ca. 1550–1602)
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Captain Humes Poeticall Musicke (London, 1607)
Tobias Hume (ca. 1569–1645)
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Greensleeves to a Ground (England, ca. 1610)
Anonymous (England, ca. 1610)
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Ludi Musici (1621)
Samuel Scheidt (1587-1654)
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Il primo libro delle canzoni (Rome, 1628)
Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583–1643)
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Guaracha
Juan García de Zéspedes (1619-1678)
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Librao terzo d’intavolatura di chitarrone (Rome, 1626)
Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger (ca. 1580-1651)
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Diferencias sobre la Folía (Spain, ca. 1660)
Anonymous
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Il primero libro di canzone (Naples, 1650)
Andrea Falconiero
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Per ogni sorte di sturmento musicale (Venice, 1655)
Biagio Marini (1594-1663)
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Canzoni overo sonate concertate per chiesa e camera (Naples, 1576)
Tarquino Merula (1595-1665)
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Intavolatura de cimbalo (Naples, 1576)
Antonio Valente (ca. 1520-ca.1580)
Sponsored by
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The Nancy and Hank Fisher Family Fund
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Capital Public Radio
Individual support provided by
Dean and Karen Karnopp
Verna M. Fourness-LeMaitre Programming Endowment Fund
Personnel
Jordi Savall
For more than 50 years, Jordi Savall, one of the most versatile musical personalities of his generation, has rescued musical gems from the obscurity of neglect and oblivion and given them back for all to enjoy. A tireless researcher into early music, he interprets and performs the repertory both as a gambist and a conductor. His activities as a concert performer, teacher, researcher and creator of new musical and cultural projects have made him a leading figure in the reappraisal of historical music. Together with Montserrat Figueras, he founded the ensembles Hespèrion XXI (1974), La Capella Reial de Catalunya (1987) and Le Concert des Nations (1989), with whom he explores and creates a world of emotion and beauty shared with millions of early music enthusiasts around the world.
Through his essential contribution to Alain Corneau’s film Tous les Matins du Monde, which won a César for the best soundtrack, his busy concert schedule (140 concerts per year), his recordings (six albums per year) and his own record label, Alia Vox, which he founded with Montserrat Figueras in 1998, Jordi Savall has proved not only that early music does not have to be elitist, but that it can appeal to increasingly diverse and numerous audiences of all ages. As the critic Allan Kozinn wrote in The New York Times, his vast concert and recording career can be described as “not simply a matter of revival, but of imaginative reanimation.”
Savall has recorded and released more than 230 albums covering the Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque and Classical music repertories, with a special focus on the Hispanic and Mediterranean musical heritage, receiving many awards and distinctions such as the Midem Classical Award, the International Classical Music Award and the Grammy Award.
His concert programs have made music an instrument of mediation to achieve understanding and peace between different and sometimes warring peoples and cultures. Accordingly, guest artists appearing with his ensembles include Arab, Israeli, Turkish, Greek, Armenian, Afghan, Mexican and North American musicians. In 2008 Jordi Savall was appointed European Union Ambassador for intercultural dialogue and, together with Montserrat Figueras, was named “Artist for Peace” under the UNESCO Goodwill Ambassadors program.
He has played a seminal role in the rediscovery and performance of Una cosa rara and Il burbero di buon cuore by the composer Vincent Martín i Soler. He has also conducted Le Concert des Nations and La Capella Reial de Catalunya in performances of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, Vivaldi’s Farnace, Fux’s Orfeo ed Euridice and Vivaldi’s Il Teuzzone.
Jordi Savall’s prolific musical career has brought him the highest national and international distinctions, including honorary doctorates from the Universities of Evora (Portugal), Barcelona (Catalonia), Louvain (Belgium) and Basel (Switzerland), the order of Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur (France), the Praetorius Music Prize awarded by the Ministry of Culture and Science of Lower Saxony, the Gold Medal of the Generalitat of Catalonia and the prestigious Léonie Sonning Prize, which is considered the Nobel prize of the music world.
“Jordi Savall testifies to a common cultural inheritance of infinite variety. He is a man for our time” (The Guardian).
Xavier Díaz-Latorre
Guitar and theorbo
Andrew Lawrence-King
Arpa doppia
Philippe Pierlot
Viole da gamba, soprano and bass
Xavier Puertas
Violone
David Mayoral
Percussion
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