Gambist and conductor Jordi Savall has recorded over 200 albums, most featuring music written before 1750—the year most mainstream conductors’ repertoire begins. Then, in 2018, Savall began a plan to perform multiple projects of Mozart and Beethoven. He was dipping his toe into the 19th century. Last week in Barcelona, Savall performed Schubert’s Eighth and Ninth Symphonies for the first time—a seemingly head-scratching incongruity that might strike some as bizarre as hearing that the 81-year old viola de gamba player would be DJ-ing at an Ibiza nightclub.
Savall recently released both Schubert pieces on his label, Alia Vox, with Le Concert des Nations. I spoke to Savall before the concert about playing Schubert with period instruments and about how, after 50 years of performing and recording music spanning six centuries, he wound up here.
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