Search - Costanzo Festa, Huelgas Ensemble :: Costanzo Festa: La Spagna [Hybrid SACD]

This is a strange but rewarding undertaking. It presents 23 of the 125 variations Costanzo Festa (ca. 1490-1545) composed based on the 37-note "cantus firmus" (fixed melody or, simply, tune) which was known, in the 15th century, as "La Spagna." Despite the obvious, necessary sameness of the material, the variety of instruments involved keeps the sound fresh and the ear engaged. They range in timings from a miniature 50 seconds to a more developed 3:47. One might suspect that these are insubstantial, but the instrumentation and tempi make for a nice complexity. Only one is for mixed singing voices; others are for wind instruments (flutes and dulcians), brass, strings, and combinations thereof. This fits into no category (the accompanying notes compare it to Bach's Goldberg Variations, but the latter are scored for one instrument and so the evaluation fails), yet it's bound to fascinate. It's easy to listen to, and the result is a wonderful palette of colors more notable for thier differences--primary, pastel, bright, dark--than thier likenesses; some of the variations pop to the forefront while others become a mellow background. The performances, by a group of virtuosi, are superb, the sonics ideal. Recommended. --Robert Levine