01	Battalia a 10 - Sonata	Le Concert des Nations					01:44
	02	Battalia a 10 - Die liederliche Gesellschaft von allerley Humor: Allegro	Le Concert des Nations					00:47
	03	Battalia a 10 - Presto	Le Concert des Nations					00:47
	04	Battalia a 10 - Der Mars	Le Concert des Nations					01:06
	05	Battalia a 10 - Presto	Le Concert des Nations					01:35
	06	Battalia a 10 - Aria	Le Concert des Nations					03:51
	07	Battalia a 10 - Die Schlacht	Le Concert des Nations					00:43
	08	Battalia a 10 - Lamento der Verwundten Musquetirer: Adagio	Le Concert des Nations					02:24
	09	Requiem a 15 - Marcia Funebre	La Capella Reial de Catalunya; Le Concert des Nations					01:47
	10	Requiem a 15 - Introitus - Requiem aeternam	La Capella Reial de Catalunya; Le Concert des Nations					07:40
	11	Requiem a 15 - Kyrie eleison	La Capella Reial de Catalunya; Le Concert des Nations					02:41
	12	Requiem a 15 - Sequentia - Dies irae, dies illa	La Capella Reial de Catalunya; Le Concert des Nations					10:08
	13	Requiem a 15 - Offertorium	La Capella Reial de Catalunya; Le Concert des Nations					07:33
	14	Requiem a 15 - Sanctus	La Capella Reial de Catalunya; Le Concert des Nations					03:36
	15	Requiem a 15 - Benedictus	La Capella Reial de Catalunya; Le Concert des Nations					03:14
	16	Requiem a 15 - Agnus Dei	La Capella Reial de Catalunya; Le Concert des Nations					03:05
	17	Requiem a 15 - Communio	La Capella Reial de Catalunya; Le Concert des Nations					04:33

Jordi Savall & Concert des Nations, Capella Reial de Catalunya.

LA CAPELLA REIAL DE CATALUNYA
Created in Barcelona in 1987 by its conductor, Jordi Savall.

La Capella Reial de Catalunya is composed by a group of soloist singers and a top-level instrumental group (international and outstanding figures in their line), whose number varies according to the requirements of each case (8 to 60 members) and whose aim is to make the repertoire of the Catalan historical music and, by extension, that of the Hispanic and universal music widely known all over the world.

An intense activity related with concerts and recordings has characterized this group. It has performed in the main festivals held in Catalonia, Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, United Kingdom, Hungary, Austria, Germany, Holland, Canada, United States, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Japan, and lately to Philippines, Hong-Kong and Taiwan.

La Capella Reial de Catalunya has recorded various compact discs: Misa de Batalla and Missa pro Defunctis by J. Cererols, El Cant de la Sibil.la I-II, Vespro della Beata Vergine by C. Monteverdi, Villancicos y Ensaladas by B. Carceres, the opera Una cosa rara by V.Martin y Soler (first world public performance), Requiem by W.A. Mozart, Sacrae Cantiones by F. Guerrero, Officium Defunctorum and Missa pro Defunctis by C. de Morales, Cantica Beatae Virginis by T.L. de Victoria, Cantigas de Santa Marнa by Alfonso X el Sabio and Canзons de la Catalunya Mil.lenаria, Planys i llegendes. Recently, the compositions Madrigali, Guerrieri et Amorosi - Libro Ottavo by C. Monteverdi, El Canзoner del Duc de Calаbria and the Portrait Offertorium have been published.

The latest projects are El Cant de la Sibil.la - Mallorca i Valиncia with Montserrat Figueras, Missa Bruxellensis by H.I.F von Biber, Carlos V. Mille Regretz: La canciуn del Emperador and Alfons V El Magnаnim: El Cancionero de Montecassino.

It is worth remembering its performance at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona with the opera "Orfeo" by Claudio Monteverdi (staged by Gilbert de Flo) which was also very well received by the audience and by the international and national. A special point is made of the participation of the group in the soundtrack of the films: "Les Batailles" and "Les Prisons" by Jacques Rivette on the life of "Jeanne La Pucelle" (Jeanne D'Arc).

La Capella Reial de Catalunya has been given various prices during these last years. For exemple, some Grand Prix du Disque et de l'Acadйmie Charles Cros, the Diapason d'Or, or the Grand Prix du disque Classique de la FNAC.

La Capella Reial de Catalunya is given, since 1990, the sponsorship of the Generalitat de Catalunya. At present, it has the cooperation of Iberia.


Le Concert des Nations, created in 1989 around La Capella Reial de Catalunya, is the youngest of the groups conducted by Jordi Savall. Les Nations, which refers to the work by Franc,ois Couperin, and are an assembly of "tastes", is also the premonition of an artistic Europe which, centuries old, bears the mark of the Age of Enlightenment.

This group meets the present day need for an orchestra with period instruments, able to perform orchestral and symphonic repertoire from Baroque to Romanticism: 1600 - 1850. Le Concert des Nations is the first orchestra of its kind made up of musicians who originate mainly from Latin countries (Spain, South America, Italy, Portugal, France as well as many other countries). Each musician is a top-level specialist in playing ancient instruments. The impact of their recordings together with concerts played at the most important Music Festivals and culturally prominent cities makes Le Concert des Nations one of the principal orchestras of today, using original period instruments to accomplish an eclectic and varied repertoire.

The desire to promote an historical repertoire of excellent musical quality through strict and revitalising performances is brought to light with the first works recorded by Le Concert des Nations: "Canticum ad Beatam Virginem Mariam" by Marc Antoine Charpentier, the "Suites pour Orchestre" and the "Les Six Concerts Brandebourgeois" by J.S. Bach, "Les Sept dernie`res paroles de notre redempteur sur la croix" by J. Haydn, the "Requiem" together with La Capella Reial de Catalunya by Mozart and the "Fire works - Water Music" by Haendel. The majority of critics consider these productions a point of reference, home and abroad. In a second phase, the following recordings were released: "Alcione - Suites des airs a` jou"er" by M. Marais, the "Orchestral works" by J.C. Arriaga, the "Symphony n^(o) 3 in E flat major, Eroica" and the "Overture to Collin's tragedy - Coriolan" by Ludwig van Beethoven, the "Fairy Queen" by H. Purcell, the "Orchestre Suites" by Guillaume Dumanoir and recently the "Orchestre du Roi Soleil" by J.B. Lully, released by ALIA VOX, Jordi Savall's exclusive record label.

With "Una Cosa Rara" by V.Marti'n y Soler, Le Concert des Nations and La Capella Reial de Catalunya entered the genre of opera. This work was performed and recorded live at the Gran Teatro del Liceo in Barcelona in 1991 and later in Viena (1997). They followed their first performance, which enraptured the general public and received superb critic reviews, with "Orfeo" by C. Monteverdi in 1993 also in the Gran Teatro del Liceo (with extraordinary scene direction by Gilbert Deflo). Finally in February 1995 came the world premie`re of the Viennese opera "Il Burbero di Buon Cuore" by V. Martin y Soler, based on the libretto by Goldoni/Da Ponte (with Gilbert Deflo once again as scene director) and which was performed for the first time in the Montpellier Opera Theatre.

Within a wide scale of future projects, the most prominent would be the release of the Compact Disc Missa Bruxellensis by Biber, recorded during the 1999 Salzburg Festival and the recording of Caldero'n de la Barca and Juan Hidalgo's opera "Celos aun del ayre matan". Both recordings are absolute world premie`res. During the seasons 2000 and 2001, Le Concert des Nations will be giving concerts in Vienna, Paris, New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Madrid, Barcelona, La Corun~a, Lisbon, Reggio-Emilia, Rome, Milan, Brussels, Salzburg, Ambronay, Halle, Regensburg and Postdam, etc. Some of the works they will play include; Bach (Mass in B minor, Les Six Concerts Brandebourgeois, Suites /Overtures, etc.) Haendel, Haydn, Lully, Marais, Rameau, Corelli, Cabanilles, Monteverdi, Martin y Soler, etc.

Le Concert des Nations is the orchestra of La Capella Reial de Catalunya and receives the patronage of la Generalitat de Catalunya.

2002




Battalia, for 3 violins, 4 violas, 2 violini & keyboard in D major, C. 61 (B. XIV 122)

Composer - Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber

Genre - Chamber Music

Work Type - Mixed Chamber Ensemble with Keyboard

Composition Date - 1673

Composition Description by "Blue Gene" Tyranny
Composed in 1673, this highly unusual piece "mit Arien imitirt undt Baccho dedieirt" (imitated with Airs and dedicated to Bacchus) depicts the goings-on at an army camp. It opens with strings and continuo (harpsichord and bass) playing military, trumpet- and drum-like motifs, during which the bodies of the instruments are tapped for a drum-like effect (!). Then, true to Biber's ever inventive and humorous spirit, there follows a section called "Das liederliche Schwarmen der Musquetier" [The Dissolute Revelling of Musketeers] in which 8 drunken musketeers are depicted as singing songs from their homelands: it is remarked (in Latin) in the score that "here all parts are dissonant, for various songs are shouted together at the same time", and in fact all 8 tunes are played in a cacophony of 8 different keys at the same time (!). In the next section depicting a gentlemen's fencing match, two pizzicato notes (a fifth apart) sound like polite lunges with clashes of metal on metal. As if these weren't illustrative enough, the next section "Mars" [March] is for "prepared" bass (!) with violin solo - to imitate the sound of a marching drum, a piece of paper is stuck between the strings of the bass. [This march originally appeared in Biber's violin sonata "Repraesentatio Avium".] Next comes a rhythmically spirited piece in triple meter, a horse riding tune. A lovely melody follows, a farewell of a warrior to his family, which both sings in steady notes, and then sobs slightly in dotted figures. Next comes "Die Schlacht" [The Battle], which features heavily snapped strings (a la Bartok) (!) to imitate artillery, with the higher strings playing fast repeated propulsive figures, like riding into battle. Naturally, there next appears a "Lamento der Verwundten" [Lament of the Wounded], which includes high notes played with little vibrato (indicating pain) and very unusual chord progressions, just before the cadential points, giving the impression of a musketeer slowly losing his life energy.



Jordi Savall

Birth - 1941

Period Years Active
Contemporary 1975-2003


Biography by Joseph Stevenson
Jordi Savall is among the leading instrumentalists and conductors of the European early music scene, specializing in Renaissance and Medieval music. He began studying music when he was six, learning cello and pursuing that instrument at the Barcelona Conservatory. He took an interest in early music, and began learning the viola da gamba. Savall also gained proficiency in the various members of the viola family. He studied the gamba and early music research and practice with Wieland Kuijken in Brussels and August Wenziger at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, obtaining a diploma as soloist and professor in 1970. In 1973 he succeeded to Wenziger's position.

In 1968 he had married the soprano Montserrat Figueras, who shared his interest in early music. With her and other musicians interested in early Spanish music, he founded in 1974 the ensemble Hesperion XX. The ensemble took its name from an ancient name for the western European region from Italy to Iberia; Hesperion was also a name for Venus as the Evening Star (in which aspect it appears only in the western skies).

He and Hesperion XX quickly became well known in early music circles. They created a unique sound through the use of viols and other Medieval instruments such as the psaltery, wooden flutes, Moroccan drums, and the Afghan rebec (a double reed ancestor of the oboe). All these instrument are known to have been used by Medieval musicians, particularly in the Mediterranean region.

Savall became internationally known through his playing on the soundtrack of Alain Corneau's film Tous les Matins du Monde (All the Mornings of the World), concerning the French viol players of the Baroque era. Savall has extended his area of musical interest into the Baroque, leading performances of Orfeo by Monteverdi and Il burbero de Buion Cuore by Martin y Soler, and in the late 1990s conducted Beethoven's "Eroica" Symphony with Les Concerts des Nations (a group he founded in 1989 for Baroque music), winning praise for his well-researched and groundbreaking interpretation. He also founded Le Capella Reial de Catalunya in 1987, an ensemble of instrumentalists and vocal soloists. He has recorded around 100 releases, mostly on the Astree Auvidis label, receiving the Diapason d'Or award, among others.