Ensemble Organum, Mercel Pérès - Le chant des Templiers (2006)

The music recorded here is taken from a twelfth century manuscript that originated in the basilica of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, based on the liturgical practices of the Knights Templar, a non-monastic order founded to protect Jerusalem and the Christians who made pilgrimage there. The CD avoids the monotony that can sometimes afflict recordings of Very Early Music. The variety of styles -- monophonic chant, melodies sung over a drone, parallel organum (in which several voices sing the same melody at the interval of the fifth or octave), and three-part polyphony -- maintains a high level of interest. The musical material strays frequently from the strict modal practices that characterized music more closely connected with Roman liturgical traditions and is sometimes astonishingly chromatic and dissonant. The free use and style of ornamentation demonstrate the influences of the musical culture of the Middle East. Several of the pieces have a stronger feeling of a regular pulse than much chant, reflecting the physical, almost dance-like motions that conductor Marcel Pérès describes as being an integral part of the original performance of this repertoire. The music and the performances are genuinely gripping and should be revelatory for anyone whose only experience with music from this period has been pallid performances of unison plainchant.
Ensemble Organum sings this repertoire with conviction and simplicity. The voices are obviously well trained and the intonation and ensemble are excellent, but the vocal quality is unmannered and direct, ideally suited to the self-effacing aesthetic appropriate for music not intended for performance, but as an act of worship within a close-knit community. The recording was made in the wonderfully resonant 900-year-old Abbey of Fontevraud and effectively conveys the vastness of the acoustical space without sacrificing clarity.