Moon, sun & all things

Ex Cathedra and Jeffrey Skidmore unearth more fascinating treasures with this latest anthology of Latin American music from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The first volume—‘New World Symphonies’, released in 2003 on CDA67380—has been hugely popular, getting regular airplay on Classic FM.

The works on this disc were chosen from the vast amount of extraordinary repertoire Jeffrey Skidmore discovered on research visits to the USA, Mexico and Bolivia.

Hanacpachap cussicuinin is a piece still widely performed throughout Latin America, its steady, processional drumming creating a haunting and seductive atmosphere. It is set for four voices in Sapphic verse in the Quechua language. The colourful imagery of the sequence of prayers skilfully mixes Inca and Christian imagery, with its references to stores of silver and gold, life without end, deceitful jaguars and sins of the devil.

CDA67524  75 minutes 47 seconds
TOP TEN RECORDS OF THE YEAR (The Sunday Times)
DISC OF THE MONTH (BBC Music Magazine)

‘Ending in a frenzy of whoops and shrieks—Ex Cathedra more exhilaratingly uninhibited than I've heard them before. After such abandoned exuberance, Vesoers ends with an endearingly unaffected recessio ...
‘This second collection from Jeffrey Skidmore fizzes with excitement and energy and is every bit as engrossing as his first’ (The Independent)
‘Ex Cathedra enter into the festive spirit with the infectious enthusiasm for this newly discovered treasure-trove that also pervades their crisp, stylish performances of the more sober pieces’ (The D ...