Navidad Renacentista

• Main performer: Capella de Ministrers
• Booklet languages: Spanish
• Time: 43:31
• Release Date: 2006

Review

This disc, compiling selections from two earlier releases, includes examples of the Christmas villancico, a genre unique to Renaissance Spain (and Latin America, home to some especially intriguing cross-cultural fusions in the genre). These are attractive pieces, usually performed with a good deal of percussion, and the rhythmic energy level is hiked by the frequent use of what would now be called syncopation. Several of the works included here are especially striking in this regard; hear the anonymous E la don don, track 5, for a good example. The repertoire is sunny in mood, perhaps including vernacular elements that may encompass influences from the African continent. The Catalonian group Capella de Ministrers gives performances that are both clean and enthusiastic, with percussion that does not sound reluctant the way early music percussion sometimes does. It all adds up to some foot-tapping background listening during the Christmas season. Unfortunately, this reissue doesn't add up to anything more than that; booklet notes are minimal and general, and they don't include texts, much less translations. These pieces are as linguistically interesting as they are musically, with texts that may be in two (or more) languages, and their infectious -- even contagious -- refrains seem to demand translation. So this may be a pleasant disc for the car or iPod at holiday time, but other discs, such as Jordi Savall's Villancicos y danzas criollas (which focuses more on Latin American developments), will give a much better introduction to the music. ~ James Manheim, Rovi

Performances

Composer	Title	Time
Anonymous, Spanish	Pastores dicite, antiphon (El primer villancico de Navidad)	1:37
Anonymous, Spanish	Bien vengades pastores, villancico (El primer villancico de Navidad)	3:27
Anonymous, Canconer del duc de Calabria	Yo me soy la morenica, cançion	2:16
Anonymous, Canconer del duc de Calabria	Gozate, Virgen sagrada	1:52
Anonymous, Cancionero de Upsala	E la don don Verges María, villancico	3:09
Anonymous, Cancionero de Upsala	Dadme albricias hijos d'Eva, villancico for 4 voices	1:55
Christmas Traditional	Riu, riu, chiu!, carol (Spanish)	1:55
Spanish Traditional	Soleta i verge estich (Cançoner de Gandia)	3:03
Mateo Flecha	La Negrina, ensalada for 4 voices	10:09
Anonymous, Spanish	Sibil-la Valenciana (Valencia) (reconstructed by J. Savall after Alfonso de Mondéjar & Bartolomé Cárceres)	14:08

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Next:	Navidad en Espanol: Villancicos of Traditional Latin America