| Review by Jonalogic October 24, 2011 (8 of 8 found this review helpful)
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After venting my spleen on a recent woeful Esoteric recut (Berlioz/Munch), I am pleased to report on a recording that I just love, unconditionally.
I am a relatively late comer to the marvellous series of Alia Vox recordings of Jordi Savall, in which he offers eclectic historic, ethnic and world music collections with the Hesperion XXI– and other- groups. But now I have now grown seriously addicted!
This recent addition to the series – Instanbul, Dmitrie Cantemir and the Book of the Science of Music- sounds like a bit of a musicological nightmare, does it not? Wrong!
If I were to try to describe this recording with one word, that would probably be ‘impeccable’ – sonically, musically and musicologically.
At the time of Cantemir, around 1670 to 1720, the Ottoman Empire had reached a cultural highpoint, before its eventual stagnation, decay and collapse. Crucially, it was open to a variety of civilisations and religions, with its music in particular open to strong Armenian and Sephardic traditions; after their expulsion from Spain in 1492, many Jews had settled in this relatively tolerant society.
This SACD offers music from this cultural melting pot: – often it is strange, bewitching and hypnotic, but it is never less than interesting. The playing, including that of many Turkish masters, is impeccable.
As with all the later DSD Alia Vox recordings I have heard thus far, the sound is quite beautiful; spacious, detailed, natural and refined. It rather reminds me of the BIS 'La Spagna', in fact. That's praise, indeed.
There are two more aspects I must mention. This is clearly a labour of love, with a lush and informative multi-lingual booklet, beautifully researched and presented. In fact, this is relatively restrained; double or triple sets in this series are often presented in lavish books. Someone really cares about these recordings, evidently!
Lastly, this recording is a musical journey, and –as in many journeys – you often learn something about distant and strange cultures. No bad thing, that! In fact, the whole Savall ‘project’ strikes me as an ear-opening journey through ancient, world and ethnic music.
If you have any interest in expanding your musical horizons, therefore, I can wholeheartedly recommend it to you.
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