The
image of monks on steroids may be a bit much for some to entertain, but
for listeners used to most modern interpretations of what's usually
called "Gregorian chant", these performances of various types of chant
from the Middle Ages will definitely seem "pumped-up", although never
grotesquely or untastefully so. The singers of early-music groups
Sequentia and Dialogos, the former led by Benjamin Bagby, the latter by
his wife Katarina Livljanic, aim not only to illustrate the differences
among chant traditions at a critical point in the repertoire's history,
but also to enliven its usually refined character and re-imagine it as
concert-performance music. In other words, these very scholarly-minded
yet theatrically savvy performers take out of context what normally are
sung as prayers, meditations, processionals, and celebratory
expressions in the church liturgy and present them instead as
entertainment. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, especially if you
want modern audiences to listen and hear what proves to be a highly
varied, colorful, and often very beautiful song repertoire that's so
often badly sung, misunderstood, and relegated to stylistic mediocrity.
Of course, the fact is that today we have no idea exactly how
these ancient chants were sung (many of them more than 1000 years old),
nor can we say with certainty how a particular rhythm was inflected,
how a note value was held, or how the Latin text was pronounced. Often
notation is incomplete or inconclusive--or nonexistent. Indeed, as true
for every group involved with performing early chant, many of the
pieces sung here are reconstructions and newly imagined recreations
drawn from existing manuscripts or composed based on thorough knowledge
of chant forms and styles.
Bagby, Livljanic, and their
colleagues are as good and as engaging as any interpreters/imaginers of
this repertoire (and better singers than most), and their idea to
demonstrate--as well as have fun with--the multifarious chant styles
that existed during the time of Charlemagne, and to effectively show
how difficult would be the emperor's attempt to resolve the conflicting
traditions by unifying them under his authority, is mostly successful
and entertaining--although probably more so in these groups' live
concert performances. The few extended, solo-voice chants go on longer
than most ears will attend, but the singers were wise to keep things
moving with different tempos, inflective styles, and type and number of
voices from chant to chant.
Most dynamic and impressive
are the antiphonal, or "call-and-response" chants such as "Laudate
dominum", where the cantor sings the psalm and the choir responds
"alleluia", and the program's final selection "Christus vincit", a
vibrant, exciting exchange involving powerfully sung declamations and
equally strong choral responses, in unison and in harmony. Bagby's harp
joins in near the end of the disc, accompanying a moving lament on the
death of the Emperor Charlemagne. Overall, the singing is full-voiced
and very agreeable in tone and timbre--while also more energetic than
we usually hear in liturgical chant. The interpretations also are
expertly, imaginatively realized, the lines well-shaped and naturally
inflected. The sound on this hybrid SACD takes full advantage of the
famed acoustics of the medieval abbey at Fontevraud, France, and the
liner notes give this uniquely conceived program a clear,
easy-to-digest context.
David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com