Carlos V - Mille Regretz / Songs of the Emperor (SACD)

This is one of the best CDs that Jordi Savall has yet produced. It is an exploration of the life of Charles V through music that was popular at the time and that he would likely have heard. Each track is assigned a year or period along with the most important event that happened, so as to offer a kind of musical timeline of the most powerful man in Europe. What is particularly attractive about this album is that it offers a true cross-section of music in the Early 16th century, taking a bit from as many different kinds of composition that there were available. For example the tracks "Dit le Bourguygnon", "Vecchie Letrose", "Quand je boi de vin clairet" and "La Spagna" are music that was intended for courtly dance; and which show it through their jovial rythm and catchy refrains. The "Jubilate deo", "Sanctus" and "Mille Regretz" are pieces in High Renaissance polyphony, representing the contrapunctal complexity that was acheived during this period. Savall's rendering of this sacred music is, in my view, more engaging than other recordings since he includes instrumental accompaniment consisting of viols and Sackbutts doubling the voices. This avoids the gloomy and empty feel that one sometimes gets with lesser recordings of Reniassance choral music. On a final note, it is pleasing to hear that the singers use historically correct pronunciation. For example in the madrigal "Belle qui tiens ma vie" by Thoinot Arbeau, the French is sung as it would have been in the Early Modern period; with "oi" pronounced as "weh", trilled "r"s and the final consonants pronounced when occuring at the end of a line of verse.