Janie and I have seen Jordi Savall with his various Hespèrion colleagues several times over the years and have bought quite a lot of his recordings. To the extent that we are fans of anyone, we would consider ourselves fans.
Yet I had always assumed that Jordi was pronounced “Yordee” and not, as we learnt at this event, “Geordie“. Haddaway! Yes, really.
How did we find out? Because there was a short interview session an hour ahead of the concert, hosted by Robert Heason, who tossed a couple of open-ended questions at Jordi who then got on with the business of interviewing himself.
It was actually really interesting to hear Jordi explain his way of thinking about early music and performance. He comes across as a very learned but likeable man who wears his expertise lightly. His comments on improvisation and the folk origins of serious music were especially interesting.
When the “conversation” ended, there was still nearly half an hour until the concert. We thought we’d take a picture of the instruments on the stage…
…but then almost immediately Jordi returned…
…and warmed up his fingers for a while on the stage…
Then we went to get some refreshments
“Gi’s a drink I’m gyezend, our lass”, (or words to that effect), said Ged.
Aside: I realise that some folk who like to read about music are not aware that Ian and Janie are also Ged and Daisy. The origins of those pet names are explained here.
We saw “the nice couple” from the front row of many concerts previously reported, sitting a few seats away from us during the talk, but when we returned to our seats it transpired that their booked seats for the actual concert were right next to ours this time. Nice.
Of course the music was gorgeous. Here is a link to the SJSS resource so you can see and read about the concert.
We had seen Andrew Lawrence-King with Jordi before, in The Celtic Viol concert at The Wigmore Hall six years ago…
…but not with Xavier Díaz-Latorre, who I don’t think we’d seen before at all. His guitar and theorbo playing was excellent.
Below is a really nice video that shows Jordi and Xavier’s skills, though not one of the pieces we heard:
Below is some Jordi viol solo work, including some pieces we heard:
The entire concert is due to be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on 5 June 2019, so enthusiasts can hear everything we heard.
It was a really interesting and lovely concert. It is always a treat to see Jordi Savall and his pals perform. And now we know to pronounce the name “Geordie”, which is very important.
After saying goodbye to the nice couple…
…aw’s clamming, as was Daisy…
…so we picked up some shawarmas on the way home, to round off a very enjoyable evening with a tasty supper.