A classic Jordi Savall project with Iberian cultural history lesson and loads of misty reverb attached, in this album, the Catalan viol player/conductor takes on five grand centuries (the 11th to the 16th) of Muslim, Christian and Jewish musical heritage in the city of Granada. The music is glorious, regardless of how diligently you engage with the chunky liner notes: influences seep in from Byzantium and north Africa, Berbers, Sephardic Jews, Arab Andalusians, Catholics. There are border ballads telling of battles and poetic exiles and laments telling of religious persecution on various counts. Savall has gathered a band of crack musicians and singers from Syria, Morocco, Turkey, Greece and Israel and the performances are full of finesse and intensity. What stands out for me is the Mozarabic polyphony – vibrant, poised singing from La Capella Reial de Catalunya.
