Gitano Music

Traditionally the gypsies of Spain originate from the migration of lower caste people from India into Europe as early as the eleventh century, but there is more accurate evidence of them coming to Barcelona from North Africa in the early part of the fifteenth century. The Roma were often badly treated as in other European countries where they settled (Romania gets its name from them), although in some parts of Spain they were welcomed and given protection by many local authorities.

That didn’t last for very long. For 300 years the gypsies were subject to laws designed to eliminate them as an identifiable group, but today, after the harsh restrictions of the Franco years, they are more accepted by most Spaniards, although still treated with suspicion or disapproval by some.

Despite or perhaps because of their strong sub-culture the Gitano, as they are known, are thought to have influenced the development of flamenco (see my posting September 15th , 2005) and even zarazuela (see my postings of September 11th. and 8th. 2005) and there is an interesting connection between them and refugee Moslems after the expulsion of the Moors from Spain at the end of the fifteenth century. Rather than being exported, killed or forcefully converted to Christianity, some of the Morriscos decided to stay and mix with the Anadalusian gypsies The songs of the gitano remain part of Spain’s musical heritage.

The Mexican tenor Rolando Villazon has recently recorded on the Virgin label some of these traditional songs, the disc entitle simply ‘Gitano’. He is accompanied by the Orquesta Comunidad de Madrid which is conducted by a familiar figure on these postings, Placido Domingo, both of whose parents were zarazuela singers. This was the musical culture in which Villazon’s career apparently also began in his native Mexico.

The disc has been very well reviewed. Villazon is a comparatively new figure on the musical scene and is making a great name for himself. His debut at Covent Garden as Alfredo in La Traviata, was applauded by one critic who referred to his ‘rich, full-bodied sound, keen musicality, and innate sense of graceful phrasing.’ In the Sunday Times Hugh Canning said ‘Villazon is the real thing, a tenor with star potential and striking individuality.’ A review of the new CD in The Guardian says that the tenor and Domingo ‘have a whale of a time in 15 classics of the genre’. Sounds inviting!

B.R.

The Pilgrims Way

A CD of unaccompanied choral music was issued at the end of last year commemorating the first boom period of the ancient pilgrimage across the north of Spain in the period 1000-1600. The Monteverdi Choir conducted by its founder, Sir John Eliot Gardiner sing music of the sort that might have been sampled or sung as pilgrims walked their weary way. It all dates back to the ‘discovery’ of the remains of the Apostle St James the Great by an enterprising Bishop early in the 9th Century. I have seen the tomb, set in the magnificent Cathedral in Santiago. The tomb is venerated by people who are not too concerned about its dubious historicity. In its heyday Santiago rivalled Rome and Jerusalem as goals of Christian pilgrimage. Today the pilgrim way is walked by many people making a spiritual pilgrimage of their own, and at its end they are presented with a ‘compostela’, an official certificate to show that they have made it. 100,377 were issued last year.

Commenting on the music on this new disc, HMV Choice refers to pure, contemplative, ancient music, evoking beautiful 16th.century musical tapestries, from the elegance of Palestrina to the glory of Victoria, complemented by other worldly chants from the Codex Calixtinus. The reviewer claims that the music is ideal for calming yourself or for deeper introspection. Anthony Clements in The Guardian’s review said the music was beautifully varied and exquisitely sung.

The Codex is a remarkable document dating from 1150, lost for many years and then rediscovered in 1886. It consists of a series of books devoted to the various stories relating to the Apostle and one of them recounts the miracles that accompanied the journey of his alleged remains to their final resting place. The Codex is intended to be chanted aloud and is an early example of polyphony (two independent voices singing in harmony). It also contains the first known composition for three voices.

Gardiner and his Choir have an extraordinary record of commitment to early music. To celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birth of Joanne Sebastian Bach, for example, they set off to tour Europe to perform and record all of his 198 cantatas, many of the CD’s of which are now on sale.

Another enthusiast for early music is Philip Pickett and the New London Consort. They recorded a similar but more extensive selection of Santiago music in 1989 on two CD’s based on Navarre and Castile, and Leon and Galicia, using various manuscripts, again including Codex Calixtinus. Whereas Gardiner’s choir is unaccompanied, Pickett uses a variety of early instruments.

B.R.

Mozart and Beethoven

Fantastic Concert in Bristol last night! Mozart’s 27th Piano Concerto played with elegance and poise by the peerless Imogen Cooper in the first half and then Beethoven’s ninth (Choral) Symphony in the second; each work marking the zenith of both composers’ genius. The Philharmonia Orchestra of London (which has a residency at Bristol) and its Chorus, supplemented by members of the local city’s Choir together with four young soloists, gave a stunning performance of the Beethoven.

The Principal Guest Conductor of the orchestra, Sir Charles Mackerras, directed two such different pieces with immense rhythmical fluency but also tight discipline. The first two movements of the symphony were played very briskly but with great attention to detail and a wonderful balance between the instruments. I have rarely heard finer string playing than in the first movement, the great tune sounding like spun gold. The last movement– so strange to its original audience and breaking the boundaries of musical taste and still difficult to bring off – was overwhelming, the double bass coming into their own as musical narrator, facing the audience from the back of the stage, and working hard.

Mackerras has been a hero of mine ever since I owned a recording of his arrangement of Gilbert and Sullivan operas for the ballet Pineapple Poll. Almost single-handedly he rescued Leon Janaeck from provincial obscurity by championing the Czech composer’s music for many years, recording all the operas and often doing so with Czech orchestras and artists. He has undertaken a lot of research into the performance practice of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries but is probably the most accomplished all-round conductor in the world. He may specialise in various genres but seems able to give the same dedication and skill to a wide variety of music. He has recorded seven of Mozart’s operas and all his symphonies. This year he will be working with the Berlin, Vienna and Czech Philharmonic Orchestras amongst others.

Now over 80, Mackerras still conducts with an infectious enthusiasm and genial warmth and though last night he was supported by a stool on which he occasionally leaned, he had all the vigour of a man much younger than his years. The audience rose to him at the end of the Beethoven, as did the orchestra, the chorus and the soloists. A very great occasion!

B.R.