This remarkable disc of secular songs (Tonos Humanos) by 17th-century Spanish composer José Marín appeared to general acclaim nearly five years ago, and now it receives an encore as part of the first batch of SACDs from the always-fascinating Alia Vox label. The re-coding of this hybrid stereo release has only slightly enhanced an already wonderful-sounding high-definition 96 kHz/24-bit recording. In any event, this is music that’s tailor-made for high definition formats, since the unique timbres of guitar, harp, voice, and light percussion are relatively easy to reproduce in a natural-sounding acoustic, and represent a near-ideal instrumental complement to show off any audio system.
The sound aside, Marín’s exotic dance rhythms, evocative melodies, and erotically charged texts, most of which deal with the despair and ecstasy of love, lust, and jealousy, make for an equally heady combination. This is early music for those who are wary of early music, for it sounds ageless–even contemporary–in the hands of these performers. Soprano Montserrat Figueras infuses these spicy songs with sparkling vitality; her trance-like improvisational moments (notably in “Sepan todos que muero”) and colloquial comfort with the music add even more dramatic color. Rolf Lislevand’s enchanting guitar accompaniment, flavored by castanets, timbrels, and hand-clapping in the background, convey the unmistakably Iberian provenance of these fragrant songs. Quite a treat.
