English period-instrument ensemble
Florilegium's 2004 Channel Classics release Bolivian Baroque was one of the most unusual and striking releases of that year. Thousands of manuscript pages of Baroque music, both native and foreign, exist in the libraries of Jesuit monasteries established in Bolivia in the seventeenth and sixteenth centuries. Rather than photocopying the manuscripts, carrying the results back to Europe, and making a hit recording,
Florilegium's
Ashley Solomon decided to bring his group with him and to augment it with local Bolivian singers and musicians, some of whom have continued to perform this music all along, well before anyone from the West showed any interest in it. The original Bolivian Baroque was such an exciting project that one could hardly blame
Solomon for going back for a second helping, which has resulted in Channel Classics' Bolivian Baroque, Vol. 2.
The recordings for Bolivian Baroque, Vol. 2, were made in Concepcion Cathedral, which has a dark, aural ambience that suits the music splendidly well, and its magnificent chapel bells are pressed into service for the Missa Encarnación of Giovanni Battista Bassani. Although Bassani never traveled to South America, his music did, and it took
Solomon more than a decade to reconstruct this mass in its native version from various parts found throughout Bolivia -- this glorious recording being the result. The remainder of the disc is made up of Bolivian copies of Italian chamber sonatas, villancicos, motets, a hymn setting by Bohemian composer Jan Josef Ignác Bremmer, and a sacred aria known only from a manuscript at the mission of Moxos. This last work is sung beautifully by native soprano Katia Escalera.
The singing and instrumental playing throughout is superb and the music enchanting; despite its bi-continental origin, it bears a surprising stylistic unanimity perhaps owing to its transformation to suit the needs of Bolivian musicians.
Florilegium creates a transformation of its own of a traditional melody played by a local violinist and singer; this might seem too pop to diehard period instrument fans, but it certainly does not upset the balance of the whole -- it serves as an exceptionally pleasing extra. Speaking of extras, Bolivian Baroque, Vol. 2, does not contain any video clips as the earlier volume did, but it is a Super Audio CD mastered in terrific sound.
Solomon's Bolivian Baroque project as a whole relates to Baroque music as a living tradition, rather than as dead museum-bound music. As such it would remain well worth supporting, even if he needed to take it to 10 volumes.