In the last few years a number of new recordings have appeared that feature Baroque era (and even earlier) music from the New World. Many of these programs have focused on music and composers from South America, but a few, like this one, remind us that there was at the same time plenty of quality music coming from Mexico as well. The fine musicians of the Mexican group La Fontegara have found a number of flute sonatas, guitar pieces, and other works from manuscripts and codices that have not seen the light of day for several centuries. The only work with non-Mexican provenance is a Locatelli sonata (popular in New Spain in its day), and with her interpretation flutist Maria Diez-Canedo shows it to be the equal of most anything of similar genre in the catalog. A nice touch is Locatelli’s (and these performers’) alternation of harpsichord and theorbo in the fast and slow movements.
The composers of most of the pieces here are little known, except for Luis Misón, a contemporary of Locatelli from Spain, whose charming Sonata in A minor gets stylish treatment from La Fontegara, who understand and fully exploit the work’s Italian influences. Equally delightful are the two short solo vihuela numbers. Eloy Cruz has a great touch, and gives an idiomatic, spirited performance. I really like his meaty strumming, too.
The only drawback is the reproduction of the instruments. Although the sound is fairly spacious and direct, there is a definite metallic quality to the strings. The vihuela actually doesn’t suffer much from this, but the viola da gamba sounds more like an electric instrument–the kind that’s just a stick without the resonance of a hollow wood body. The harpsichord gets edgy as well, which is a bit of a distraction in the solo turns. Otherwise, there is some good music to be had here for any period fan, in very musical, committed performances.
