Mixed Taste   in Renaissance and Baroque

If one selects the best from the musical tastes of different peoples with the necessary discernment, the result is a mixed taste. Johann Joachim Quantz

As artistic melting pots par excellence, both France and Germany drew on various cultures in the 17th century. The Italians thrived on passion; with the French, the universe bowed to reason. The ideal of the French composers was to bring the senses alive, while subordinating the sensory perceptions to the primacy of the intellect. In Italy the emphasis was on the direct expression of feelings and extravagant virtuosity, while in France dance was the quintessential aristocratic art that best expressed the mastery of body and mind. In Germany, too, the objective was to broaden one’s horizons, disseminate compositions and discover the different styles of music that coexisted in Europe. They came together in part in the movement known as “united tastes”.

Jordi Savall – viola da gamba
Xavier Díaz-Latorre – theorbo
David Mayoral – percussion