ALTRE FOLLIE 1500-1750

Anonyme (Peru) Folias criollas, Folias antiguas

de CABEZÓNPavana con su glosa

MUDARRA Fantasia que contrahaze la harpa de Ludovico;

RUFFO La Gamba in Basso, e Soprano

PICCININI Partita sopra la Follia

FALCONIERO Folias (a 3) echa para mi Señora

STORACE Follia

PLAYFORD Faronell's Division

CORBETTA / G.SANZFolias

CORELLI Follia

CABANILLES Diferencias de Folias

ALBICASTRO Sonata "La Follia"

de MURCIAFolias Gallegas

VIVALDI Sonata "La Follia" Op.1

Hespèrion XXI/ Jordi Savall

In 1998 La Folia, an album that was phenomenally successful all over the world, marked the debut of the Alia Vox label. Fortunately the

folias corpus seems inexhaustible and the ‘folia’ theme is one that has inspired many composers other than those included in the first

volume, like Albicastro, Cabezón, Mudarra or Vivaldi. Now, seven years on, to the great delight of all his admirers, Jordi Savall has put

together another collection, as irresistible as the first.

Although improvisation played a key role in medieval and Renaissance musical life, it is rarely incorporated into present-day recordings.

So the first item on this fascinating disc, in which Jordi Savall's exuberant treble viol leads an irresistibly foot-tapping extemporisation in Spanish-American style, makes a welcome introduction to this collection of pieces based on the famous La Folia bass line.

The Iberian flavour is appropriate, since the Folia was originally an energetic Portuguese peasant dance, and several of the earliest pieces, including Cabezón's solemn yet increasingly ornamented pavane, are by Spanish composers.

As this chronological sequence shows, however, it rapidly became popular all over Europe as the basis for increasingly substantial pieces with a strong virtuoso element, reaching its apotheosis in Corelli's magnificent Follia variations.

Manfredo Kraemer's performances of this work, and of the equally exciting sonatas by Vivaldi and Henrico Albicastro that complement it, leave the listener marvelling not only at the breathtaking brilliance with which he throws off the most difficult pyrotechnics, but also at the apparently inexhaustible wealth of fine music inspired by a simple repeated bass pattern. Elizabeth Roche, Telegraph

Alia vox SACD AVSA9844