Red Book of Montserrat/Llibre Vermell de Montserrat 

EP 1, self release 2018

 

duo corvi's second EP features 7 pieces from the Red Book of Montserrat (Llibre Vermell de Montserrat). The Llibre Vermell was compiled at the end of the fourteenth century (c1399) at the Montserrat monastery in Catalonia. A collection of pilgrim works for devotional use are preserved within the ‘Red Book’ with a mix of texts in Catalan, Latin, and Occitan, often celebrating the Virgin Mary. These pieces represent a significant meeting point for secular and sacred music of the time, allowing folk tradition to captivatingly mix with devotional practice in performance. duo corvi explores this significant repertoire through voice, medieval keyboards (organetto and clavisimbalum), and the symphonia (a medieval hurdy-gurdy), with delicate improvisation and musical layering.