“Without memory we cannot have a civilisation,” Jordi Savall has said, “and music is part of that memory.” Thoughtful and idealistic, imaginative and adventurous, Savall is celebrated as a player of the viola da gamba and for leading ensembles such as Hespèrion XX,  which he founded with his wife, soprano Montserrat Figueras. He was born in Catalonia in 1941 and has long been fascinated by the  many, richly-coloured threads that run through Spanish music. This 11-CD collection, España Eterna, spans some five hundred years, embracing and exploring a diversity of cultures, institutions, composers and performing traditions.

Contents:

CD 1
Cansós de Trobairitz: Songs of the troubadours c.1200

CD 2
Songs of Andalusia: Music from the Middle Ages and Renaissance

CD 3
Llibre Vermell de Montserrat: A 14th-century pilgrimage

CD 4
Court Music and Songs from the Age of the Discoverers 1492-1553

CD 5
Sephardic Romances from the Age before the Expulsion of the Jews from Spain 1492

CD 6
The instrumental variation of Spanish Renaissance music

CD 7
Renaissance music from the Neapolitain court 1442-1556: Music at the court of Alfons I 1442-58 & Ferdinand I 1458-94

CD 8
Antonio de Cabezón 1510-1566: Instrumental works from the time of Charles V

CD 9
Canciones y danzas de España 1547-1616: Songs and dances from the time of Cervantes

CD 10
Diego Ortiz c.1510-c.1570: Recercadas del tratado de glosas 1553

CD 11
El barroco español: Spanish secular music c.1640-1700