Well then, I'll second "Be Good Tanyas" a pleasant surprise of
recent for me as well. I check out that other album too (thanks!).
On an entirely different type of music, I was recently introduced, by a
good friend, to the Early Music of Jordi Savall's label, Alla Vox. Fantastic
recordings! A real favorite that I can't stop playing of recent is one with
his wife, Montserrat Figueras, "El Cant de la Sibil-La". There
are a couple of recordings I've found of this piece - the one I've been
awed by is Alla Vox AV9806 (the other that I have, which is also with the
two of them, is on Astree/Naive label and is nowhere near as engaging
and dynamic a performance as the one on Alla Vox - same Chorus, same
church, different performance and recording techniques). On the Alla
Vox recording her voice will stretch the limits of virtually any system,
and his playing (Viola de Gambe) is equally remarkable. I also recently
just picked up the Savall box set on the same label which is instrumental
and is a Savall showcase. That set is a bit more sedate in comparison as
far as the music is concerned (Mr. Saint Colombe le Fils and Marin
Marais), but no less startling in presence and beauty, albeit on a more
subtle level. That one is AV 9829 A/C.
Marco
