Most classical recordings simply exhibit repertoire, but often as not early music discs develop themes. Jordi Savall’s 
is a lavish example: 400 pages (only 50 of them in English) of essays and illustrations, and three CDs exploring in music the history of the Renaissance Borgia family.
You can hardly go wrong with the Borgias: a dinner with them without talking sex, politics and religion would be eaten in silence. They had less to do with music, but Savall’s approach is to take works loosely related to episodes in their lives, from the birth of Alfonso – eventually Pope Callistus III – in 1378 to the death of Francisco in 1572, and he constructs a kaleidoscopic sonic mural around them. Examples include the opening 11th-century Moorish song with oud improvisation and polyphony by the likes of Josquin and Morales. It is a rich musical tapestry and few but Savall, with his network of musical collaborators and capacity to draw on earlier recordings (11 out of 64 tracks), could pull this together at all, let alone so well.
A subclass of early music recording reconstructs historical musical events, such as a Mass for a particular occasion. Musica Contexta’s variation on this theme is music one could hear in 16th-century Rome for the Feast of the Purification, including plainchant, but that would never have been heard in a single service. The theme flirts with the spurious, but the music of influential polyphonists Arcadelt and Palestrina and the more obscure de Silva delivers a familiar controlled beauty that contrasts with the flamboyant variety of a Savall, and Simon Raven’s group is well in command of it.
Sometimes a theme may be an excuse. Emma Kirkby and Jakob Lindberg’s collection of lute songs by Dowland and Purcell takes its cue from both having once been labelled the country’s Orpheus. But is there a composer of note from the 17th century who wasn’t? The real inspiration is probably Lindberg’s Rauwolf lute, built around 1590, recently restored, and one of the only genuinely original lutes now being played. In the lute world, this is like discovering a Stradivarius. A rare treat in the recital room, but the recording process is too universally flattering to reveal such tonal nuances. Never mind. Kirkby has decades of experience with this repertoire, and gives a convincingly controlled and distinctive interpretation of songs familiar and unfamiliar.
DINASTIA BORGIA: LA CAPELLA REIAL DE CATALUNYA, Hesperion XXI, Jordi Savall (director), with Montserrat Figueras et al (Alia Vox/Ode); ARCADELT, DE SILVA and PALESTRINA: LE DIVIN ARCADELT – CANDELMAS IN RENAISSANCE ROME, Musica Contexta with the English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble (Chaconne/Ode); DOWLAND and PURCELL: ORPHEUS IN ENGLAND, Emma Kirkby (vocals) and Jakob Lindberg (lute) (BIS/Ode).