We have good reasons to believe More Hispano should offer just a concert, rather than a programme.
Our goal is to provide both a brilliant performance and a memorable event, rather than a programme whose main attraction might reside on paper or in the form of a commemorative event or anniversary. However, we offer here a brief list of recently available programmes:
- Glosas & improvisations
- Yr a oydo
- Improvisando
- Madrigales Rotos
- The New Hunt Is Upp
- Secretos muy eçelentes
- Passos Galanos
- La Dama le Demanda
- Stylus Phantasticus
- O Rosa Bella
Glosas & improvisations
New glosas, improvisations and counterpoint lines on famous Renaissance songs and madrigals. All served with our own, brand new original embellishments. It can be heard in our GLOSAS CD.
Yr a oydo
Yr a oydo (old Spanish for Going by ear) is an innovative programme that rethinks and contests the role of the modern performers of early music, while trying to reinstate the creative side which not only belongs to their performance but, indeed, they should never omit. It can be heard in our Yr a oydo CD (2010).
Improvisando
Improvisando is a step forward in the way More Hispano has been dealing with improvisation during the last years: for the first time, we present a programme that is not based on written pieces, but merely on harmonic-melodic patterns to be developed spontaneously—and certainly not without any risks—at the concert.
Madrigales Rotos
Madrigales rotos is the Spanish translation of madrigali rotti—an Italian expression that also has a historic equivalent in English (Breaking the Ground) or Dutch (Gebroocken door) which was used for referring to the embellishments applied to famous songs or madrigals during the Renaissance. All served with our own, brand new original embellishments.
The New Hunt Is Upp
“Being the true voice of one’s time is (as Shaw might have said) roughly 40,000 times as vital and important as being the assumed voice of history.”
—R. Taruskin, The Spin Doctors of Early Music.
Improvisations on English Renaissance grounds.
Secretos muy eçelentes
“Y hagan algunas fugas aguardándose el uno al otro al modo como se canta contrapunto concertado y desta manera se irán conociendo y con el exercicio descubrirán secretos muy eçelentes que hay en esta manera de tañer.”
—D. Ortiz, Trattado de Glosas, 1553.
Songs, dances and improvisations from 16th-century Spain. This programme was premiered at Festival Oude Muziek de Utrecht.
Passos Galanos
An exploration of the first “manera de tañer”—the fantasia—described (quite unsuccessfully) by Diego Ortiz (“la fantasia no la puedo yo mostrar porque cada uno la tañe de su manera”) through improvisation.
La Dama le Demanda
“También se podrán aprovechar del libro los curiosos menestriles […], que con poca dificultad podrán pasar desta cifra en canto de órgano.”
—Hernando de Cabezón, prologue to Obras de Música, 1578.
Antonio de Cabezón’s music beyond the keyboard.
Stylus Phantasticus
Virtuoso music from Italian Seicento.
A good example of the flamboyant, bizarre musical style that begins to emerge in Italy in the seventeenth century.
O Rosa Bella
Late Medieval & Early Renaissance Music. Comprised of three different but historically correlative repertoires, this programme features some of the most representative works of the late Middle Ages (like Ciconia’s ballate) next to a selection of the virtuoso diminutions contained at the Faenza codex 117, ending with a selection of works from the first music collection ever printed (Odhecaton A, O. Petrucci, Venice 1501).