Shipwrecked

Product Description

Music from eX's acclaimed production, SHIPWRECKED, featuring international early music specialists together with Ireland's finest trad players showcasing virtuosic powerhouse interpretations of Spanish and English renaissance, secular and sacred vocal and instrumental music. The album includes never-before-heard reconstructions of 16th century traditional Irish instrumental and vocal music and is an enchanting fusion of the above styles, introducing a new and totally engaging musical experience. SHIPWRECKED is the sound track from the hit show of the same title. The audience will vividly imagine the adventures of Francisco de Cu鬬ar, a captain from the Spanish Armada, shipwrecked in Ireland in 1588. On the run from the English he experiences brutal hardships, tender mercies and passionate romances in a story that comes to life in a unique and magical musical score. An album of immediate and wide appeal crossing between classical and traditional styles creating a sound that will attract veteran and new audiences. Founded in 2006, eX has quickly become recognised as one of Europe's most innovative early music ensembles. eX creates spectacular staged productions and concerts featuring some of the world's most celebrated and adventurous early music specialists. Compelling new interpretations and unique and thrilling crossovers between early music, traditional and popular styles characterise their highly original approach. "It was very satisfying to see the enthusiastic audience, who gave a prolonged standing ovation at the end of the spectacle. Several people, who did not think they would be interested in early music, were enthralled" Michael Collins, the Irish Catholic Music by: Antonio De Cabez Crist De Morales, Tom Louis De VictorWilliam Byrd, Diego Ortiz, Juan Ara Juan de Castro, Ruaidhr��ll ӠCath, Anonymous from diverse manuscripts, Caitr�� O'Leary, traditional Irish "Something akin to perfection" Playbill Arts (USA) "Every track vibrates with energy and life" Rovi "First class music making" Irish Times "Eine Super CD!" Toccata-Alte Musik Aktuell "CD Of The Week" ABC Classic FM (Australia)

Review

Shipwrecked, an album featuring the Irish early music ensemble EX,
defies easy definition. On a purely musical level it can be enjoyed as
a collection late Renaissance vocal and instrumental music from a
seemingly unrelated assortment of traditions, including Spanish,
English, Irish, and Gaelic, performed with irresistible exuberance and
vibrancy. The album is actually the original cast recording of what
director Eric Fraad describes as a 'strange postmodernist event' that
'brings the Renaissance together with a really contemporary
sensibility of theatre,' first presented at the Dublin Festival in
2011. Shipwrecked uses drama, narrative, pantomime, dance, and music
to tell the true but outrageously far-fetched sounding story of the
adventures of the captain of a Spanish galleon who was cast ashore on
the coast of Ireland after the rout of the Spanish Armada in 1588.The
production must have been wonderfully eccentric; among its many
elements it included elaborately detailed reproductions of period
costumes, the percussionists' 'Renaissance tap dance (a combination of
brute force and Fred Astaire),' with Elizabeth I and Philip II
portrayed by eight-year-olds playing with toy soldiers and model
ships. This is a piece that cries out for a DVD recording. Until such
a thing appears, the musical selections presented here are fabulously
satisfying in themselves. The score was put together with scrupulous
attention to historical detail by musicologist and singer Caitríona
O'Leary, the founder of eX, and is wonderfully and unpredictably
varied. O'Leary, whose soprano is supple and radiant, is the most
prominent soloist, but the entire ensemble performs with focused
musicality and can encompass precision and uninhibited earthiness;
every track vibrates with energy and life. The sound is clean,
intimate, and nicely ambient. Highly recommended for any fan of early
music. --Rovi, Stephen Eddins