Spain On Fire - Divine and human passions in the Spanish Baroque by Accademia del Piacere | Fahmi Alqhai

Various composers

Accademia del Piacere | Fahmi Alqhai | Quiteria Muñoz

Spain On Fire - Divine and human passions in the Spanish Baroque

Price: € 19.95
Format: CD
Label: Challenge Classics
UPC: 0608917200188
Catnr: CC 720018
Release date: 07 March 2025
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1 CD	€ 19.95	Preorder

Label
Challenge Classics

UPC
0608917200188

Catalogue number
CC 720018

Release date
07 March 2025

Album

Artist(s)

Composer(s)

About the album

The rise and splendour of the Spanish Empire in the 16th and 17th centuries spread Spain’s cultural wealth and diversity far and wide, embracing musical traditions whose roots mixed Christian, Muslim, Jewish and American influences. This transformed cultural and musical fashions throughout Europe. The original scores were basic skeletons, to which the musicians added a plethora of personal interpretation: arrangements, glosses and a world of ornamentation. Accademia del Piacere and Fahmi Alqhai have spent years working on this Spanish approach in order to revive this spirit through improvisation, bringing this music back to life.

De opkomst en pracht van het Spaanse Rijk in de 16e en 17e eeuw verspreidden de culturele rijkdom en diversiteit van Spanje over de hele wereld. Dit omarmde muzikale tradities met wortels in christelijke, islamitische, joodse en Amerikaanse invloeden, waardoor culturele en muzikale modes in heel Europa veranderden.

De originele partituren waren slechts een basisstructuur, waaraan musici een overvloed aan persoonlijke interpretaties toevoegden: arrangementen, variaties en een wereld van ornamentatie. Accademia del Piacere en Fahmi Alqhai hebben jarenlang gewerkt aan deze Spaanse benadering om deze geest door middel van improvisatie nieuw leven in te blazen en deze muziek opnieuw tot leven te wekken.

Der Aufstieg und die Blütezeit des spanischen Imperiums im 16. und 17. Jahrhundert verbreiteten Spaniens kulturellen Reichtum und Vielfalt weit und breit und umfassten musikalische Traditionen, deren Wurzeln sich aus christlichen, muslimischen, jüdischen und amerikanischen Einflüssen zusammensetzten. Dies veränderte die kulturellen und musikalischen Moden in ganz Europa. Die Originalpartituren waren nur das Grundgerüst, dem die Musiker eine Fülle persönlicher Interpretationen hinzufügten: Arrangements, Glossen und eine Welt der Verzierungen. Die Accademia del Piacere und Fahmi Alqhai haben jahrelang an diesem spanischen Ansatz gearbeitet, um diesen Geist durch Improvisation wiederzubeleben und diese Musik wieder zum Leben zu erwecken.

Artist(s)

Fahmi Alqhai (viola da gamba)

Born in Seville to a Syrian father and Palestinian mother, he starts to study music at a very young age in Syria. Later he studies viola da gamba with Ventura Rico and Vittorio Ghielmi, and has been a regular member of recognised groups such as Hesperion XXI (Jordi Savall) and Il Suonar Parlante (Vittorio Ghielmi). Apart from his career as the director of Accademia del Piacere, Fahmi Alqhai has performed with musicians and orchestras such as the National Orchestra of Spain, Orquesta Barroca de Sevilla, Ton Koopman, Michael Corboz and Uri Caine. Since 2009, he is artistic director of the Early Music Festival of Seville (FeMAS), Spain’s oldest and most important early music festival. In 2018 he received the Medal...

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Quiteria Muñoz (soprano)

Accademia del Piacere

The uniqueness of its innovative projects, the technical ability of its musicians and the strong personality of its artistic director have made of Accademia del Piacere a vanguard group in Spanish early music and one of the leading ensembles of this kind in Europe. Accademia is especially appreciated for the group’s fascinating and direct communication to its audience, and its conception of historical music as being alive and full of emotions Accademia del Piacere has revealed new facets in fundamental repertoires of historical music such as the Italian Seicento, the Spanish music of the Renaissance or the theatrical music of the Spanish Baroque. This has led them to win awards such as Opus Klassik 2020 to the Best Solo Vocal Recital–Opera (Muera Cupido, for Núria Rial, in Germany), Choc de Classica (France), Prelude Award (Netherlands) and many GEMA Awards, among many others.
Furthermore Accademia del Piacere visits areas apart of early music: both Las Idas y las Vueltas and Diálogos (respectively with flamenco singers Arcángel and Rocío Márquez) were rewarded with Giraldillo Award in the Bienal de Flamenco de Sevilla (2012 and 2016). National and European-level recognition has developed Accademia del Piacere’s presence on the most prestigious classical music stages in Europe and worldwide: Berliner Philharmoniker, Wiener and Berliner Konzerthaus, Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, British Museum, Hamburger Elbphilharmonie and Laeiszhalle, Oji Hall in Tokyo, Colonia Philhamonie, Auditorio Nacional de Madrid, Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon... Accademia del Piacere’s concerts 10are regularly transmitted live by television stations such as ARTE, NHK in Japan, or the European Broadcasting Union associated broadcasters.

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