KA007: Musical Passages: Flemings in Spain, Quadrivium "Musical Passages: Flemings in Spain," the latest CD by Quadrivium featuring tenor Jan Van Elsacker, sheds light on the musical connection between Flanders and Spain anno 1500. Major Flemish composers, Johannes Ockeghem and Alexander Agricola, both traveled to Spain as musicians from the French king. The cross-pollination between these northern composers and their Spanish counterparts resulted in Flemish chansons with Spanish texts and in the audible influence of Flemish polyphony on Spanish music. The important ‘Segovia manuscript’ provides the program with Flemish polyphonic chansons and virtuosic instrumental settings. The unique interaction between Flemish and Spanish music receives a contemporary incarnation, by a newly composed setting of the famous “Coplas por la muerte de su padre from Jorge Manrique (c1440-1479) by Flemish composer Janpieter Biesemans (*1939). This composition was written especially for this program.)
Quadrivium is an ensemble specializing in late-medieval music, particularly the Franco-Flemish repertoire of the 14th- and 15th centuries. This refined and complex repertoire is brought to life via a specialized medieval instrumentarium. The ensemble brings a deep level of understanding and intuitive emotional interpretation to the music, while ensuring historical correctness under the watchful eye of musicologist/lutenist Willem Mook.
