Search - Alfonso el Sabio :: Alfonso El Sabio: Cantigas De Santa Maria / Micrologus

Although the 13th-century collection of songs known as the Cantigas de Santa Maria, compiled under the sponsorship of Spain's King Alfonso X, is one of the sources most favored by early- music groups, the collection is so vast--more than 400 works--that recordings of this music rarely duplicate repertoire. And because actual performing forces are entirely at the discretion of the individual or ensemble, today's performances are much like they must have been 700 years ago--widely varied in interpretation and in number and types of instruments and voices. The Italian ensemble Micrologus utilizes period instruments and extensive musicological research to inform its interpretive approach; but these also are very imaginative and creative artists, and the resulting performances are truly like nothing you've heard before. Never have these fine songs, which honor the Virgin Mary and relate tales of Marian miracles, been rendered so colorfully and with such irresistibly characterful voicings and instrumental effects. Don't miss this one. --David Vernier