Why am I reviewing a recording made and released more than a
decade ago? Firstly, because it predated Musicweb International,
so we have never reviewed it. Secondly, because it recently appeared
on Hyperion’s ‘please buy me’ list, indicating
that sales had been very slack. Thirdly, because, as regular
readers will be aware, I rate all the recordings made by Gothic
Voices very highly indeed, present CD included, so that neglect
of any of their recordings is deeply regrettable.
The music on the present CD, most of it anonymous and from Northern
France during the time of the Crusades, relates to the medieval
belief that the name
Jerusalem meant ‘city of piece’ from
the Semitic root
s-l-m. Though this etymology is no longer
widely accepted, it had great significance for medieval Christianity,
where the responsory
rogate quae ad pacem sunt Hierusalem
et abundantia diligentibus te (pray for the peace of Jersusalem;
they shall prosper that love thee, Ps. 121 [122]) was almost
synonymous with praying for the peace of Christendom.
For the modern listener the appeal lies in the sheer beauty of
all the music here. If you listen for no other reason than to
round off a hectic day at work, that’s fine. I hope, though,
that even if you start with that motive you’ll come to
appreciate the music and performances at a deeper level, too.
Some of the pieces are in plainchant and the other settings are
equally soothing - but not, I should add, in any sense boring.
Only two of the pieces can be assigned to named composers and
two of those are obscure - we don’t even know a
floruit date
for Huon de St Quentin. Don’t let that put you off in the
slightest: all the music here is more than amenable to the modern
ear and the closing piece by Abbess Hildegard well up to the
high standard of her music to which Gothic Voices introduced
us with their seminal recording
A Feather on the Breath of
God (CDA66039). Where they led others have followed, but
their interpretations of Hildegard’s music remain special
and the present recording of
O Jerusalem (tr.15) is no
exception. It’s especially effective immediately after
the plainchant psalm
Deus, qui venerunt (tr.13) and the
plain setting of
Congaudent hodie (tr.14). Where some
other performers add instrumental accompaniment to Hildegard’s
music and other music of the period, Christopher Page believes
the practice to be inauthentic. Catherine King’s beautiful
solo, unaccompanied rendition of
O Jerusalem here certainly
provides strong support for Page’s practice. Hildegard
puts all the variety into her settings, without any need of instrumental
support. The only accompaniment on the CD comes from the tolling
bell in the background of
Te Deum (tr.4)
That all the performances are excellent goes almost without saying,
as does the fact that the recording throughout is first class.
Christopher Page’s notes are, as usual with Hyperion, lavish,
scholarly and approachable, as befits one who bestrides the twin
worlds of music and literature. One small discrepancy concerns
the description of Catherine King as ‘alto’ in the
CD booklet and insert and as ‘soprano’ on the Hyperion
website.
Another Gothic Voices recording, recently, and equally surprisingly
putting in an appearance on Hyperion’s endangered list,
A
Song for Francesca: Music in Italy, 1330-1430, is also highly
recommendable (GAW21286), especially as it won the Gramophone
Early Music Award. Neither will remain available at Hyperion’s
give-away price of £5.60 by the time that you read this
review - my buying them removed them from the list - but they
are well worth buying even at the normal price. I had long meant
to obtain them both but never got round to it; don’t make
the same mistake.
Let me also take this opportunity to sing the praises of some
of Gothic Voices recordings being reissued by Hyperion in their
budget-price Helios series. Of the five CDs which they made with
the generic title
The Voices of England and France, Volumes
1-3 have already been reissued - see reviews of
Volume
1 and
Volume
2 - and the other two must surely follow soon. You’ll
find a review of Volume 3 (CDH55283, concentrating on the music
of Binchois and his contemporaries) in my
October
2009 Download Roundup. You’ll hardly be surprised to find that, if I recommend
Vision
of Peace and
Song for Francesca so strongly at full
price, I’m even more enthusiastic about these and other
Helios reissues. Meanwhile, don’t let any of their earlier
treasures of the back catalogue ever again languish unwanted.
Brian Wilson
Catherine King1 (soprano);
Leigh Nixon2 (tenor)
