Hyperion CDA67524
76’50
Download via Hyperion Records
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Singers, harps, lutes, violins, cornetts and sackbuts revel in colourful music from the jungles and cathedrals of 17th and 18th century Bolivia, Mexico and Peru. Moon, Sun and All Things reveals more hidden treasures from 17th century Latin America, with works by Capillas, Fernandes, Franco, Araujo, Zipoli, Sumaya and Hernández sung in Spanish, Latin and the languages of the Aztecs and the Incas.
REVIEWS:
‘My last CD gave me unalloyed pleasure…Not only are the performances outstanding, but the range of music is also fascinating and varied… Jeffrey Skidmore and Ex Cathedra are the masters of every style on this superb CD. They can be grand when grandness is required, as in the Latin psalms settings. They can give terrific zest to the antiphony where short phrases are lobbed from one choir to another. They can swing with infectious rhythms of the secular villancicos where both the singers and the instrumentalists teeter on the brink of breaking into dance with whoops, tambourines and other Latin effects. But they can also move us with their performances of the quietly reflective local processional music. The CD opens with the mesmeric Hanacpachap cussicuinin from Lima . It ends with this haunting recessional Dulce Jesús mío by an anonymous composer. With this in your ears, rush to the shops and buy a copy. I have.’ (BBC Radio 3 CD Review)
‘This is a heady mix of gloriously rich polyphony and manic, earthy villancicos. Skidmore has mined a rich vein of hitherto undiscovered music in libraries and churches of South America, and devised a dramatic Vespers service…Ex Cathedra more exhilaratingly uninhibited than I’ve heard them before…a most impressive disc.’ (BBC Music Magazine – Disc of the Month)
‘The boundaries of old Europe’s cultural reach were notably blurred in Latin America, not least exposing missionaries to indigenous musical traditions. Skidmore and Ex Cathedra fill this album with some of the most alive, infectious and uplifting Baroque polyphony I’ve ever heard. The evangelical nature of this ‘ancient’ music has survived down the centuries, catching the ear with a force absent from so many compliations of early polyphony. A very special release.’ (Classic FM Magazine)
‘This second collection from Jeffrey Skidmore fizzes with excitement and energy and is every bit as engrossing as his first’ (The Independent)
‘A CD bursting with fun and uplifting music. The liturgical items shine with melodic beauty and joy.’ (The Times)
‘This gloriously eclectic Vespers sequence, which includes sophisticated Latin psalm and Magnificat settings and Spanish sacred songs and pieces in the Nahuatl and Quechua languages, is another of Ex Cathedra’s splendid snapshots of the flowering of religious music in Spain’s New World colonies. Ex Cathedra enter into the festive spirit with the infectious enthusiasm for this newly discovered treasure-trove that also pervades their crisp, stylish performances of the more sober pieces.’ (The Daily Telegraph)
‘Truly sublime … all beautifully played, sung and recorded’ (Sunday Times)
‘Here is a truly wonderful disc, by reason of the splendours of the works chosen and the superbly controlled enthusiasm and skill of the performers … an absolute winner’ (International Record Review)
‘Jeffrey Skidmore and Ex Cathedra turn the dead contents of dusty archives into a thrilling programme … one of the finest albums of early baroque music to grace its catalogue’ (Music Week)
‘The musicians of Ex Cathedra under Jeffrey Skidmore add further lustre to their reputation with some ravishing vocal and instrumental performances which are by turns exuberantly sophisticated and intensely moving in their simplicity. A short review cannot hope to do justice to this wonderful CD. Buy it!’ (Cathedral Music)