Altre Follie, 1500-1750

CML call number: CD/CLASSICAL/Savall
Performers: Hespèrion XXI, directed by Jordi Savall.
James R. Oestreich wrote in the New York Times, 12/4/05: "The follia, whose name connotes folly, even madness, seems to have begun as an ancient Portuguese country dance. Then, in refined arrangements, it pervaded courtly settings all over Europe and reached as far as Latin America. [Altre Follie] begins with that geographical stretch--a spirited improvisation on 'Folias Criollas,' an anonymous work from Peru--before picking up chronologically. Various settings from the 16th century and into the 17th establish the pacing and harmonic structure. Later in the 18th century, the tune . . . began to attach itself to a more or less standard bass line, as here in infectious works by Andrea Falconiero and John Playford. The disc moves into the high Baroque with Corelli's virtuoso showpiece and Juan Cabanilles's 'Diferencias de Folias' for harpsichord, also from 1700. It concludes, inevitably, with Vivaldi's variations for two violins . . . wonderful entertainment in the hands of Manfredo Kraemer and Mauro Lopes."