As we learned in the first issue of Goldberg, Eduardo Paniagua has begun to record the complete cantigas of Alfonso el Sabio. Three years ago, before any of these discs had been issued, I found that only 120 of the 400 cantigas had been recorded in complete form. Until less than 20 years ago, it was usual to record only one or two verses of a cantiga. In recent years it is more common to record every verse of a song, even if it runs to a dozen or occasionally as many as two dozen verses. The first five issues in Paniagua's series (two of the group consist of two CDs) were reviewed in our first issue, although only The Life of Mary has been issued outside of Spain. Cantigas de jerez is the seventh issue. Like the others, it assembles a group of cantigas around a theme, here the city of Jerez, best known in English-speaking countries as the source of sherry wine. Every verse of every cantiga is sung.

The noteworthy part of this enterprise is the large proportion of cantigas that have never before been recorded, even in part. Paniagua adopts a liberal use of instruments, as some other interpreters have done, and includes several pieces that are not sung but merely played. Those looking for sung versions of every cantiga may be left dissatisfied. Paniagua’s ensemble has a native fluency with the songs, although I find his countertenor, Luis Vincent, something less than ideal in vocal projection. Sony must be wondering if the world market can support several dozen discs like this. Dare to be great, Sony! JEROME F. WEBER