Search - Joachim Pimentel, Paulo Valentim, Manuel Mendes :: Tears of Lisbon: Music of Portugal From the Renaissance Through Today's Fado

A terrible disappointment

12/16/2002

(1 out of 5 stars)

"As someone with a dozen or so of Paul Van Nevel's discs I had high hopes of this one, but this was a terrible disappointment. Firstly this is something akin to a "crossover" disc with the Huelgas ensemble performing their choral inbetween pieces sung by modern Fado singers. The result, rather than being a crossfertilization, sounds more like a church choir and flamenco singers unhappily taking it in turns. The excellent Huelgas choir don't even sound as comfortable in their pieces as on their earlier (better) recording of Portugeuse motets and cancoes for Sony. Add to this that this is a very "live" recording - beginning with noisy clapping, coughing, feet stamping, plus an acoustic balance which sounds thoroughly odd, and you really have a disc that fails on every front. The only good thing I can say about it is that this is the only disc I have found to actually provide texts and translations for Fado, which world music discs don't seem to provide, although (infuriatingly) Sony have decided to glue the booklet to the CD pack, which makes it a real pain to use, and requires delicate handling or it won't be long before the spine on the booklet begins to come unstuck. In other words an all round disaster."