​Ibn Battuta’s Rihla ——Jordi Savall & Hespèrion XXI concert

Jordi Savall

In the past twenty years, in the major force of music revival, Jordi Savall, a Vielle performer, conductor, researcher and teacher, can be renowned as a pioneer of early music revitalization. Together with a couple of ensembles including Hespèrion XXI, Capella Reial de Catalunya and Le Concert des Nations, they create an impressive discography, whose diversity, quality, quantity and originality are difficult to catch up with. His vielle sounds silk-or-velvet-smooth, and his elegance, delicacy and sharpness are incomparable till now. Ever since establishment of the AliaVox brand, he has released 20 albums and won countless international awards. His wife Montserrat Figueras is not only a good life partner, but an important contributor for the establishment of Alia Vox.
Purpose of the new brand Alia Vox is to demonstrate the revitalizing quality of music created by Jordi Savall, Montserrat Figueras and their ensemble. Furthermore, they focus on the selective research of basic repertoire as per resources of raw materials, and reinterpreting concepts according to styles and techniques of each period. And most importantly, it manifests the precise attitude and responsibility of today’s artists towards unjustly-ignored tracks and instruments.
Jordi Savall was born in Igualada, Barcelona in 1941. His musical training started at age six in the school choir of his native town. After graduating from Conservatori Superior de Musica de Barcelona in 1965, he realized the importance of early music, and reevaluated those almost forgotten instruments, such as viola da gamba and the musical heritage of the rarely-konwn Iberian Peninsula. Since 1968, he has received education at Scho La Cantorum Ba Siliensis in Swiss and eventually succeeded his teacher August Wenzinger in 1973.
Since 1970, his recordings have focused on the viola performance of great musicians, and he’s well known as the greatest and most talented performer of viola da gamba worldwide. He’s obsessed with exploring into ignored works, created different ensembles from 1974 to 1989, and thus performed a wide range of works, including pieces from Middle Ages to early 19th century. In 1974 he formed the ensemble Hespèrion XX together with soprano Montserrat Figueras and some musicians from different countries. Hespèrion XX favored a style of interpretation characterized simultaneously by great musical vitality and maximum historical accuracy. In 1987 he returned to Barcelona to found La Capella Reial de Catalunya, a vocal ensemble devoted to pre-eighteenth-century music.
In 1989 he founded Le Concert des Nations, an orchestra generally emphasizing works from Baroque and classical period. Its members are mostly young musicians from southern countries, who excel at instrumental performance of Baroque and Classical periods.
Jordi Savall has been recognized as the most important early music performer nowadays, and a talented musician in his field. He’s not only a viola da gamba performer with distinctive style, but a major constructor of historical music evaluation considering influence of his concerts, education and research. Savall adapted and performed music for the film Tous les matins du monde, which earned seven César awards and one of them is Best Score. He has demonstrated that early music is not for the appreciation of only a few, but can attract more and more youngsters. Soundtracks of this movie have sold a lot of copies in France and abroad.

Hespèrion XXI
Hespèrion XX is an international music ensemble founded by Jordi Savall (bowed string instruments), Montserrat Figueras (soprano), Lorenzo Alpert (flute, percussion) and Hopkinson Smith (plucked string instruments) in 1974. They pursue a common goal, i.e., to study and perform early music in a new approach, especially in-depth value of those works, all due to a huge obsession of Spanish and other European music heritage before 18th century.
In the past forty years, Hespèrion XXI has been sticking to their original ideals, performing not a few ignored and incomplete early works and holding a lot of concerts in Europe and America. It appears in all the mainstream music festivals at home and abroad, especially those early music festivals. The group changed its name to Hespèrion XXI at the beginning of the 21st century.
The primary spirit of this ensemble is eclectic notion of arts. Therefore, they perform numerous Latin-American music works and pieces from Middle Ages, Baroque and Renaissance Periods. The ensemble has also performed many other European music works, most of which are not released to public before. Lately, they have cooperated with Alia Vox to record new albums, including Batalles, Tientos, Tears of Muse, J.S. Bach: The Art of Fugue, The Viol Collection, The Lost Paradise, The Oriental Road, The Peaceful City, etc., which have earned them the Prix Caecilia Award and Orphé d’or Award in 2008. In addition, it holds concerts all around Europe periodically, and goes on tour shows in major American cities. Besides, it goes on tours in Japan, Mexico, Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil, Chili, Uruguay, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Philippine, Korea and Taiwan.

Program:

1. 阿尔及利亚祈祷《风之舞》
ALGERIA Invocation, Danza del viento (Dance of the Wind)
2. 以色列 《起而闻听夜之呢喃》——《雅歌》即兴作品， 里奥·艾尔马莱 吟唱
ISRAEL Kamti Beivshan Layla (I Rose to the Sound of a Murmur in the Night) —Improvisation after The Song of Songs, sung by Lior Elmaleh
3. 法国 皇家伊斯塔珮塔之四- 国王手稿（13世纪）
FRANCE La Quarte Estampie Royal (The Fourth Royal Estampie)—Le Manuscrit du Roi (The King’s Manuscript) (13th Century)
4. 伊斯坦布尔Rast nakış beste "Amed nesim-i"—哈斯·阿卜杜尔卡迪尔·梅拉吉
STANBUL Rast nakış beste "Amed nesim-i"—Hace Abdülkadir Meragi
5. 以色列《尼姆罗德国王》— 塞法迪传统音乐
ISRAEL El Rey Nimrod (The King Nimrod) – Sephardic tradition
6. 塞浦路斯《微渺星辰》- 土耳其&希腊舞蹈音乐
CYPRUS Dillirga / Tillirkotissa (There is a tiny star) - Turkish & Greek Song & Dance
7. 奥克西塔尼亚《以上帝之名哀悼和平》- 马卡布鲁（1129-1150）
OCCITANIA Planh “Pax in nomine Domini” (Lament “Peace in the Name of the Lord”) – Marcabru (1129-1150)
8. 伊斯坦布尔《我心不胜其哀》- 布沪瑞·乍得·穆斯塔法·埃芬迪
ISTANBUL Hisar Ağir Semaı „Dil-i pür-ıztırabım“ (My Heart is Overwhelmed) - Buhuri Zade Mustafa Efendi
9. 罗马尼亚 Der makām-ı Uzzäl Sakîl "Turna" Semâ’î - 迪米特里·坎特姆尼尔手稿324
ROMANIA Der makām-ı Uzzäl Sakîl "Turna" Semâ’î - Mss. D. Cantemir, 324
10. 耶路撒冷《在回归天父之土的途中吟唱》- 亚瑟·米斯拉伊
JERUSALEM LaMoledet shuvi roni (Sing as You Return to the Land of Your Fathers) - Asher Mizrahi
11. 塞浦路斯《致伊安斯密》- 传统情歌
CYPRUS To yiasemi (My Jasmine) - Traditional love song
12. 耶路撒冷《美丽的少女》- 塞法迪传统音乐
JERUSALEM Hermoza muchachica (Beautiful Maid) - Sephardic tradition
13. 意大利伊斯塔珮塔《特里斯塔诺悲歌》
ITALY Istampitta: Lamento di Tristano (Tristano’s Lament)
14. 以色列《哦，我的灵魂》- 尤素夫·伊本苏莱
ISRAEL Shuvi nav shi (O My Soul) - Yossef ibn Sulai
15. 保加利亚 塔克西姆舞蹈音乐
BULGARIA Taksim & Dance
16. 伊斯坦布尔《散落你的长发，进城去吧》- 坦布瑞·穆斯塔法·萨维斯
ISTANBUL Hisar Buselik Şarkı „Dök zülfünü meydana gel“( Let Down Your Tresses and Ride to Town) - Tanburi Mustafa Çavuş
17. 摩尔达维亚 迪米特里·坎特姆尼尔手稿89
MOLDAVIA Der makām-ı Hüseynī Sakīl-i Ağa Rıżā(Manuscript of Cantemir Dimitrie) - Mss. D. Cantemir, 89
18. 塞浦路斯《科奥耐利舞曲》- 土耳其&希腊舞蹈音乐
CYPRUS Koniali (Girl from Konya) - Turkish & Greek Song &Dance
19. 希腊《来自遥远的异国》
GREECE Apo xeno meros (From a Foreign, Far-off Land)
20. 以色列托拉吟唱 伊斯坦布尔《于斯屈达尔》
ISRAEL Torah ISTANBUL Üsküdar
21. 罗得岛《睡吧，睡吧，窈窕淑女！》（乐器）
RHODES Durme, hermosa donzella (Sleep, Sleep, Fair Maiden) (instr.)

*The subject is subject to change without prior notice

For tickets, please visit Shanghai Concert Hall box office, or
visit:
http://shanghaiconcerthall.org/ec/programInfo.do?programBean.programId=5839 (Chinese only)
http://www.gewara.com/drama/318088861 (Chinese only)
http://en.damai.cn/event/tickets_107628/ (English only)
or dial 400-891-8182 （English available)
Price: