The members of the Bogota, Columbia-based Música Ficta ensemble apply their considerable expertise regarding style, language, and indigenous instruments to bring us to a very pleasing acquaintance with music rarely found on recordings. On the surface, it’s a rather unusual mix of more refined compositions (many of the instrumental works, especially those for solo harpsichord) with freer pieces, particularly the songs. But during the European baroque, the vast Spanish colonial territory known as the Viceroyalty of Peru (which included what is now Columbia, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, and other areas) had strong musical ties to Spain, but over time also developed its own, home-grown composers and local styles of songs and dances.
Much of this diversity is reflected here, from the anonymous Spanish harpsichord Chacona and traditional Spanish dance pieces Rondón I and II, to the lilting “Canarios” for solo guitar, and the beautiful songs “Aquella sierra nevada”, “Montes del Tajo escuchad”, and “Sosieguen, descansen”, the latter an extended, highly varied, quite dramatic soliloquy (artfully, ardently sung by tenor Jairo Serrano).
While there is nothing here that counts as a masterpiece or significant discovery, the music is never less than very pleasing to hear–and it’s all very well performed, made more interesting by the various combinations and types of instruments, including percussion, baroque guitar and vihuela, flutes, chirimía, bajón, gaita, and pito y tamboril. I only wish some–any–information had been provided regarding the more unusual instruments. No information is given about the composers, and due to a printing error, several of the song translations are left out of the liner notes.
The acoustic seems to favor the treble registers, which produces a slightly harsh sound in places, and some listeners (myself included) might prefer a bit less resonance overall. Still, where the music itself is concerned, Música Ficta deserves praise for its efforts to keep this repertoire alive and for making it so accessible, striving to present it in a form as true to its roots as possible. Anyone looking to explore one of the more interesting but lesser-known corners of early American music should definitely consider this program.
