Vicente Parrilla, together with his ensemble More Hispano, undergoes an active exploration of 16th Century musical technique. His virtuosity and imaginative recorder playing bring new life to songs and madrigals that enjoyed great popularity during the Renaissance. In this undertaking, he is accompanied by some of the finest young Spanish Early Music specialists.
‘For most period-instrument bands, improvisation means judiciously adding ornaments. But in works by Strozzi, Cabezon, Attaingnant, Monteverdi and others, the recorder player Vicente Parrilla and his superb Seville-based ensemble More Hispano elaborate freely and inventively on the composers' melodies and classic dance rhythms, much as a virtuoso jazz band would do with standards. Alvaro Garrido's vigorous percussion underpinnings have a world-music quality that suits these works, and Raquel Andueza, a soprano, sings with an earthy, almost vibrato-free tone.' New York Times
More Hispano is an example of a truly excellent ensemble and their chemistry with each other as well as Parrilla grants each musician complete freedom to interact with one another with dreamlike fluidity. Here, this group of young musicians work with this music while at the same time developing their own approach them and making the pieces their own. Performance on period instruments is far from easy but each of them is a musician with great skill which allows them to concentrate on the performance at hand. Of course, Vicente Parrilla stands out since he plays the melody instrument, in this case the recorder, taking centre stage most noticeably during improvisations. Also particularly notable is soprano, Raquel Andueza whose clear and powerful voice does more than justice to the poignant melodies.
This album was recorded in a Spanish Renaissance church (Oratorio de la Escuela de Cristo in Seville), the ideal location for the required acoustics and an inspirational venue for the musicians.