Montserrat Figueras and her husband Jordi Savall return at the end of this year with a fresh reflec- tion upon their Spanish heritage, with a new collection of Sephardic Romances Photo Alta Vox 0E1 Cant de la Sibil.la Montserrat Figueras (sop); bXavier Diaz (lte); bLuca Guglielmi (org); La Capella Reial de Catalunya / bJordi Savall (dir/alyra).

Alia Vox 0 (1) AV9806 (62 minutes: DDD). Texts and translations included. Anonymous: Sibil.la Mallorquinaa — Un rey vendra perpetual; Ans del Judici tot anant; Apres se badara molt fort; Del cel gran foc devallara; Llos puygs e.ls plans; Hanc horn non feu res; Lanonchs no haura horn talent; Del morir sera tot lur talens; Cascun cos s'alma cobrara; Los infants qui nats no seran; E dira casca axi; Deus dexendra del celsa ius; So es aquest que nos panges; Deus dira aycels dulcement. Sibil.la Valencianab —

Fanfares; Gloria tibi Domine; Al jorn del judici; D'una Verge naixera; Mostrars'han quinze senyals; D'alt dels cels devallara; Portara cascti escrit; Als bon dara goig etern; Mare de Dêu pregau per nos; Vosaltres tots que escoltau; Fanfares.

Who has not heard with some curiosity that fleeting reference to the Sibyl at the beginning of the Dies irae in the Requiem Mass: 'Dies irae, dies illa teste David cum Sibylla'? Yet, just as the Procession of the Prophets used to be a familiar feature of the Christmas liturgy all over Europe, so the Song of the Sibyl was formerly sung with great solemnity, in some of the great Spanish cathedrals and monasteries. A boy chorister or a young novice performed the part during the Office of Christmas Matins. Indeed, it can still be heard today in Majorca, on Christmas Eve, in the cathedral of Palma and elsewhere. This recording presents in parallel two versions of the Cant us Sibille, one taken from the Catalan version found in a fifteenth-century choirbook from the Convento de la ConcepciOn in Palma, the other, a reconstruction based on a four-part, harmonized version of the refrain from the midsixteenth century Bartolorne Carceres, the text and the music of the stanzas culled from various Catalan sources. Since the theme of the Sibylline prophecy is the Second Coming and the Last Judgement, what could be a better moment, as we approach the year 2000, to hear these choirs — one representing the Nuns' Choir, the other a polyphonic cathedral ensemble — responding to each stanza with the slow and solemn refrain: 'Al jorn del judici parra qui haura fayt servici'? The singing of the stanzas is dramatic and the use of instruments discreet. MB