THE RED BOOK

The ten songs of the Llibre Vermell manuscript are presented in an unprecedented fashion on this recording. I have used a 'gothic trinity' concept of medieval numerology (three groups of three) to craft the arrangements of the individual songs as well as their order on the disc. In addition to the ten songs in the manuscript, we also present three of the tunes in a kind of 'dance' format: high energy instrumentals to offset the serene and trancelike pieces. Each song was considered as an individual work when it came to its presentation and arrangement, and each posed a special challenge. For examples: Cuncti Simus Concanentes was a natural for the hurdy gurdy ("organistrum" in the CD notes), so I built the arrangement around that concept, adding the classic call-response motif, driving percussion and daring improvisations. Laudemus Virginem presented a special challenge, being so minimal. I got the cantus firmus idea after listening to lots of 15th century music, especially stuff from the Faenza Codex. Suggestions from the crew helped refine the arrangements, and each musician added their own embellishments during performance.

We recorded the music on the evenings of 28 and 29 March 2003 at the Episcopal Church of the Epiphany in Tempe, AZ. This church has not just one, but two amazing acoustics (three if you count the hallway leading to the bathrooms!): the sanctuary itself has a nice, wet acoustic which isn't too muddy, and that's what we used for the recording. There is also a round room behind the altar which is ideal for recording intimate, finely detailed music with nice, non-overwhelming acoustics, like Dufay chansons or Dowland lute songs. Things generally went smooth, despite the occasional low-flying jet, an exceptionally dry weekend which dessicated the tabor drums and hurdy gurdy, forgotten entrances, flubbed notes, honking cornemuses, botched Latin (Stef: "Splendens Splep..."), and other precious moments which ended up on the cutting room floor (or cyber-oblivion, in this day and age).

After the Friday and Saturday night recording sessions, Sunday night was spent at the Analog Café Studios putting the recordings in order on one CD. This turned out to be a miraculous nail-biter, as I had not timed any of the music, and I did not want to have to leave anything out. Some tracks turned out to be a lot longer than expected (Los Set Gotxs clocks in at just over 11 minutes!). By a miracle of fate, the entire program ran at just under 76 minutes. A bona fide full-length CD! I was home just after one in the morning.

The next night was spent leaning over Miriam's shoulder, plotting the graphic design and layout of the liner notes, cover art and all the other pizazz. I looked at about 500 fonts before finding the very readable and decorative "Charles III." Of course, I had to use the graphic that I created in 2000 for the concert poster. At first I was reluctant to use the inside back cover group photo, but after Miriam did a 'fit to page' distortion, it reminded me so much of the Beatles' Rubber Soul album cover that of course it had to stay. Indeed, just a week and a half earlier, some Bart-Faire members were at Jim's place, eating cake, listening to John Lennon and leafing through a Beatles book, and the conversation turned to the powerful aesthetics of the Rubber Soul album cover art. Perhaps someday we'll do our 16th century arrangements of British invasion hits. Anyhoo... that night I rolled in at about 2:30 am, utterly exhausted, but with the first Bartholomew Faire CD in hand.

After that, it was a matter of mass-production. After weighing the pros and cons (and dollar figures) of making many CDs for distribution and sale, I decided to recruit the services of Bigg Media in Glendale, AZ. Rob Bolis was a great help; his pride in workmanship and attention to subtle details really helped fine-tune the project into an attractive product.

I'm very pleased with the CD. Admittedly, it has its warts, but overall, it's a disc that I actually like (and want) to listen to. Typically, I don't really care to listen to anything that I've recorded, much less submit to the public, but this disc is a real exception: it has character and force. As a performance, it owes as much to the Incredible String Band as it does to Jordi Savall and Philip Pickett. As far as arrangements go, there's as much of Miles Davis' influence as there is of David Munrow's. As a 'concept album,' The Red Book moves along from beginning to end, in both a linear and cyclical fashion: the contemplative call to pilgrimage, followed by processions, dances and meditation, ultimately leading to death... I think you'll greatly enjoy it.