Variations on a Spanish Theme

Francesco Canova da Milano ‘Il Divino’:
Spagna Contrapunto
Ricercar Spagnuola ‘duna cossa spagnola’

Michael Pratorius:
Spagnoletta

Francisco de la Torre:
Danza alta, sobre ‘La Spagna’

Anonymous:
La basse danse du Roy de Spaingne a XLIIII notes a VI mesures
La Spagna (4 - versions), Re di Spagna
Olvida tu Perdiçion Espana
Espagnoletta
The Spaynard
Padvana hispanica

Joannes Ghiselin:
Basse danze (La Spagna)

Juan del Encina:
Triste Espana (4 versions)

Carlos Verardi:
Historia Baetica

Joan Ambrosio Dalza:
Calata a la Spagnola I–IV

Giles Farnaby:
The Old Spagnoleta
Spagnioletta

Guglielmo Ebreo da Pesaro:
La bassa Castiglya – Falla con Misuras

Hans Weck:
Spagniöler tancz – Hopper dancz ‘Spagna’

Hans Kotter:
Spanieler

Cesare Negri:
Spagnoletto – Villancico di Spagna – Pavaniglia di Spagna – Spagnoletto da capo

Josquin Desprez:
La Spagna a 5

Diego Ortiz ‘el Toledano’:
6 Recercadas sobre canto llano la Spagna

Giovanni Maria Trabaci:
Gagliarda quarta a 5 alla Spagnola

Jacob van Eyck:
Een Spaense Voys

Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck:
Pavana hispanica

Francis Pilkington:
The Spanish Pavane

Gaspar Sanz:
Espagnoletta

Hans Judenkönig:
Ain spaniyelischer hoff dantz

Antonio de Cabezón:
Tres sobre el canto llano de la alta (sobre la Spagna)

Fabritio Caroso:
Spagnoletta nuova al modo di madriglia
Furioso alla Spagnuola

Hans Buchner (a.k.a. Hans von Constanz):
Spaniol tancz

Hans Kotter:
Spaniol Kochesberger [on SACD layer only]

On its first release as a double LP, this legendary 1980 recording was described as ‘a rousing sonic spectacular’ in the US audiophile magazine The Absolute Sound (TAS). Setting off on a sonic journey through Europe, Gregorio Paniagua and his legendary ensemble Atrium Musica de Madrid took the famous theme known as La Spagna, used widely by composers across Europe for several centuries, as their point of departure. In their quest to bring to life these old scores, they used a huge range of instruments, from clavicytherium (a ‘vertical harpsichord’) to a simple plastic cup, and the vivid performances and no less vivid recording enchanted both early music fans and audiophiles. An ample selection from the original programme was later made available on CD, but due to technical advances the present disc is the first re-edition of the entire original programme, with Hans Kotter’s Spaniol Kochesberger available to those who play back the disc on an SACDplayer. For this Hybrid SACD – playable also on CD players – the recording has been transferred directly from the original analogue master tapes to high resolution DSD format: a leap back in time made possible by the latest technique.