Costanzo Festa: La Spagna [Hybrid SACD] [Hybrid SACD] [SACD]

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
This is a strange but rewarding undertaking. It presents 23 of the 125 variations Costanzo Festa (ca. 1490-1545) composed based on the 37-note "cantus firmus" (fixed melody or, simply, tune) which was known, in the 15th century, as "La Spagna." Despite the obvious, necessary sameness of the material, the variety of instruments involved keeps the sound fresh and the ear engaged. They range in timings from a miniature 50 seconds to a more developed 3:47. One might suspect that these are insubstantial, but the instrumentation and tempi make for a nice complexity. Only one is for mixed singing voices; others are for wind instruments (flutes and dulcians), brass, strings, and combinations thereof. This fits into no category (the accompanying notes compare it to Bach's Goldberg Variations, but the latter are scored for one instrument and so the evaluation fails), yet it's bound to fascinate. It's easy to listen to, and the result is a wonderful palette of colors more notable for thier differences--primary, pastel, bright, dark--than thier likenesses; some of the variations pop to the forefront while others become a mellow background. The performances, by a group of virtuosi, are superb, the sonics ideal. Recommended. --Robert Levine

Costanzo Festa: La Spagna [Hybrid SACD], Music, Costanzo Festa, Huelgas Ensemble, Chamber Music & Recitals, Classical, Classical Composers, Classical Music, Miscellaneous, Miscellaneous Music
Costanzo Festa: La Spagna [Hybrid SACD]
Average customer rating: 2 out of 5 stars
  • A musicological study
 Costanzo Festa: La Spagna [Hybrid SACD]

Manufacturer: Harmonia Mundi Fr.
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Chamber MusicChamber Music | Forms & Genres | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music
GeneralGeneral | Classical | Styles | Music
GeneralGeneral | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
ClassicalClassical | Imports | Stores | Music
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ASIN: B0000C8WZW
Release Date: 2003-12-09

Tracks:

  1. Contrapunto 46
  2. Contrapunto 41
  3. Contrapunto 105
  4. Contrapunto 101
  5. Contrapunto 88
  6. Contrapunto 76
  7. Contrapunto 124
  8. Contrapunto 81
  9. Contrapunto 60
  10. Contrapunto 77
  11. Contrapunto 122
  12. Contrapunto 25
  13. Contrapunto 118
  14. Contrapunto 47
  15. Contrapunto 35
  16. Contrapunto 40
  17. Contrapunto 8
  18. Contrapunto 14
  19. Contrapunto 108
  20. Contrapunto 9
  21. Contrapunto 85
  22. Contrapunto 37
  23. Contrapunto 70
  24. Contrapunto 125
  25. Contrapunto 71
  26. Contrapunto 117
  27. Contrapunto 28
  28. Contrapunto 104
  29. Contrapunto 58
  30. Contrapunto 121
  31. Contrapunto 123
  32. Contrapunto 34

Amazon.com

This is a strange but rewarding undertaking. It presents 23 of the 125 variations Costanzo Festa (ca. 1490-1545) composed based on the 37-note "cantus firmus" (fixed melody or, simply, tune) which was known, in the 15th century, as "La Spagna." Despite the obvious, necessary sameness of the material, the variety of instruments involved keeps the sound fresh and the ear engaged. They range in timings from a miniature 50 seconds to a more developed 3:47. One might suspect that these are insubstantial, but the instrumentation and tempi make for a nice complexity. Only one is for mixed singing voices; others are for wind instruments (flutes and dulcians), brass, strings, and combinations thereof. This fits into no category (the accompanying notes compare it to Bach's Goldberg Variations, but the latter are scored for one instrument and so the evaluation fails), yet it's bound to fascinate. It's easy to listen to, and the result is a wonderful palette of colors more notable for thier differences--primary, pastel, bright, dark--than thier likenesses; some of the variations pop to the forefront while others become a mellow background. The performances, by a group of virtuosi, are superb, the sonics ideal. Recommended. --Robert Levine

Customer Reviews:

2 out of 5 stars A musicological study.......2007-04-25

This CD will be of interest only to musicologists or to performers of Renaissance music who wish to learn divisions and variations by ear. The original was clearly a "teaching" manuscript for exactly such performers. Besides, the performance is murky, as is often true of Las Huelgas Ensemble.

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