Business
flourished on the seas. Lootings of Portuguese commercial ships and slave
trade. The latter took place with a special method - the live cargo of the slack ships under Spanish flag coming
from Africa was simply looted, the crew killed and the slaves staying alive
sold for good money...
Then on a
windy autumn day of 1568 a Spanish patrol boat hit raided the pirate boat,
running away from the fast-sailing caravel was out of question, the cannon fire
was punctual and merciless.
The young
captain, Francis, could flee for he was a good swimmer, he was picked up by a
fishing boat and he swore shaking his fist after the retrieving warship that he
would send the whole Armada to the bottom of the sea one day.
Then he spent the
night contemplating about the aerodynamics of the triangle Latin suit of sails
- what made that huge big draw ship with loads of canons so speedy.
John, a
weaver novice in a smoky inn near London on that very day, a bit blushed in
front of the paunchy guild masters was stitching the sole of a stocking with
fast and punctual hands, slightly prolately as it was in vogue that time.
The
unusually thin needle and its special geometry came from a jeweller whose
beautiful daughter dated him in the evenings.
The textile was real silk right
from China, weight price two third of gold and that it was impossible to sew
made things worse, which was heavily luring and annoying for the suppliers of
the Court.
Years
passed.
The head of
pirates became chief admiral, Sir Francis Drake defeated the Spanish Armada in
1588.
Silk
stockings was caught on as luxury, fortunes were paid for them. Annual income
of a small farm for a pair of stockings - decent value for money.
The
filaments come together.
Elizabeth
I, the Virgin Queen.
Whose
undeceivable sense of politics - and secret pacts with the pirates - made Great
Britain a naval world power giving way to the treasure flooding from the
colonies. Practically, the English live on it even today.
Who wore a
brand new pair of stocking each occasion and what she took off she gave to her
first lady in waiting.
Whose reign
saw culture soaring to a never seen height.
Foreign
musicians, lutenists and harpists went through a revolving door in her Court creating the
unique and special world of music called Elizabethan Music today.
She was
keen on jewels, especially carcanets.
Here comes
such a record.
The
carcanet contains three kind of precious stones in a nice pattern.
Renaissance
dances mostly originating in the Continent as anonymous notes in blocks of two
and three.
Gamba
consort arrangements of early church masses and motets in patterns of three and
four. There are some In Nomine; originally, it was part of a Taverner mass. Why
its more than 150 arrangements and adaptations became so popular generations
later cannot be explained.
And there
are some lines of genuine consort music, that is, what was composed in this
form, in counterpoint in Anglia.
The
instrumentation is the original English whole consort with gambas and various
violas; seven delightful instruments with, besides Savall, such performers like
Sophie Watillon, Lorenz Duftschmid, Casademunt, Quintana, Pierlot, and
Balestracci who all became famous later.
The dances are supplemented with
string and percussion instruments and portative organs.
Supplement
is a footnote-type expression. Here it belongs to the headline.
Why? Every
jeweller knows the answer.
For besides
Xavier Diaz the other lutenist is Rolf Lislevand. I hope you remember him,
the revolutionist of Early Music and the rhythm is Pedro Estevan. The three of
them add some perturbing glitter to the encased stones.
Above or rather beneath
all there is Behringer’s brilliant organ obligato there. To say that it is a
simple continuo or bass obligato is an utter mistake.
Yet, they,
the supplement, provide the basic pattern. They do so in a way that the violas
fully transubstantiate in the dances or rather they show their true nature.
The
effect is so intense that the fittings of the consort pieces of a more complex
tissue behave among them like some supra-conductors among strong magnets; they
vibrate, get heated and float and race upheaved.
Several
English ensembles play English consort music; the average level of standard is
very high.
However, I am not familiar with another performance touching me so deep
inside.
What a nice
inclination of the head toward the great old enemy.
Highly, highly recommended.
Highly, highly recommended.
* * *
Translated by Kenesei Andrea
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