This is the fifth recording in the Deutsche Harmonia Mundi series dedicated to Spanish baroque music by Al Ayre Espanol, and the third to feature the soprano Marta Almajano in works for solo voice and ensemble. In many ways it is the best yet, partly because the interpretative approach, always lively and inventive, now benefits from the performers’ greater familiarity with the musical idiom (which is also so much more familiar to us thanks to their sterling efforts). The overall effect is more sure-footed, more polished, and also more thoughtful (the word ‘mature’ springs to mind, but it can sound so condescending). This thoughtfulness is reflected in the informative insert-notes, the selection of pieces, and also (dare I say it?!) in the absence of castanets.
But perhaps the most important aspect of all in this latest recording is the consistently high quality of the music. Jose de Torres was a major figure in the musical life of Madrid, and by extension the whole of the Spanish-speaking world, in the early decades of the eighteenth century. Renowned as a composer in his own time, he also wrote an important continuo treatise and ran a music publishing house from 1699 until his death in 1738. Much of his music has been lost - although in recent years a number of collections of cantadas, including some of his works, have been discovered and a clearer picture of the diffusion of the Italian style in this period is beginning to emerge. Torres was clearly at the forefront of stylistic change and his cantatas, both sacred and secular (represented three to one on this recording) , fuse the recitative-aria basis of the Italian model with other contrasted movements, some (such as the estribillo or coplas) of Spanish origin, others from still elsewhere (the French grave).
The mix affords great variety in mood and structure, and this is generally well conveyed by Al Ayre Espanol, although at times the group only narrowly avoids creating its own interpretative cliches. Its director, Eduardo Lopez Banzo, loves to whip up a bit of excitement, and faster sections can end up sounding somewhat frenetic (as in the Fuga from O, quien pudiera alcanzar) when he pushes a little too hard and a strummed guitar tends to dominate the continuo perhaps slightly too much or, at least, too often. Nevertheless, Marta Almajano’s well-focused soprano is as agile as any of the instruments and keeps pace seemingly effortlessly. The slower movements are generally well judged - expressive and with a sense of spaciousness that seems to accord better with the ecstatic nature of the cantatas dedicated to the Holy Sacrament. Try the tender aria ‘Cisne fue para espirar’ from Afectos amantes or, indeed, any of the grave sections. Any baroque enthusiast will want this disc, and Torres’s music deserves a still wider audience.'