The dance is named after the Tuscan word folle which means foolish, mad or crazy. And that’s what this dance from the 16th to 18th century was all about, with wild and uncontrolled twirling, tremendous noise and all sorts of percussions and tambourines. The first description of La Folia to have reached us dates from the early 1600s and talks about young men dressed as women  being carried around on other men’s shoulders and twirling in a fashion that seems to indicate they had lost their senses in early raves.


As the dance and style became popular and gained a foothold in other countries, it also lost its apparent insanity to turn into a far more severe passacaglia that had little in common with its origins besides the name. Gregorio Paniagua and his Atrium Musicae once again demonstrate that they have a deep and intimate understanding of medieval music and the compositions that have reached us. Yet on this outing they go much farther to recreate the spirit of the dance in a modern context. If the Folia was initially a dance where anything went that made noise to be silly, one can’t ask for more than this disc. Intertwined with sixteen variations on the Folia theme, you’ll hear a kazoo, spoons, firearms, a truck, construction work, even a quote from the Pink Panther theme played on the saxophone - and many other unexpected tricks I’ll leave for you to discover. It's insane. And that’s the very point!


The vast majority of music on this disc is serious and superbly played on a huge diversity of period flutes, percussions and strings but folia it is - unexpected, completely out-of-place music that will surprise you throughout the performance. As I mentioned in the introduction, this recording has earned serious audiophile recognition ever since its release and now the re-edition by Speakers Corner. The reason is that this performance was captured at the peak of Hyperion’s expertise in analog recording which is easily heard. The tonal diversity, instrumental textures, imaging and ambiance cues are of the highest mark, pretty much unlike any other recording I know of even compared to some of the earlier Harmonia Mundi oeuvre which until now was my absolute reference. La Folia goes even further technically, a firework that will tell you everything that is right—or wrong—with your system.


Many discs of medieval music demand a good grasp on the period and style but this one really stands out as being of no specific time or place. I’m not even sure whether it still is medieval music any longer. It is some sort of UFO landed in our musical world and as such should be considered either a must own or a complete aberration.  As far as I’m concerned, it’s a winner.