Veni Redemptor Gentium

NOTE: All of the music on this program comes from the Ensemble Concordian Dawn directed by Christopher Preston Thompson. It is on Avie label and is AV2813.

From Early Music America: Veni Redemptor Gentium — Come, Redeemer of the Nations — by New York-based Concordian Dawn features music appropriate for the Christmas season. Founded in 2012, the ensemble describes itself as specialists in Medieval vocal repertoire, “drawing on primary source material and focusing on socio-philosophical similarities between texts from centuries ago and the mindset of modern society.” This new recording, released Nov. 21 on Avie Records, is a product of Concordian Dawn’s annual “Caroles by Candel-lēoht” service, held at St. John’s in the Village Church, NYC.

Most of Concordian Dawn’s musicians take multiple roles: sopranos Amber Evans and Michele Kennedy and haute-contre tenor Nickolas Karageorgiou sing while mezzo-soprano Catherine Hedberg and baritone Thomas McCargar also play percussion; Daphna Mor plays recorder, ney, percussion, and sings; Niccolo Seligmann is here on vielle and percussion; and Christopher Preston Thompson, the group’s director, is here a tenor, Medieval harpist, and percussionist

The album surveys 22 works with a focus on music from the 13th-15th centuries, “with a few pieces connecting to centuries before and after.” There are also two new works by Australian composer and musician David Yardley (b. 1978). In “This Holy Tym Oure Lord Was Born,” Yardley provides the melody for a 15th-century choral fragment, transcribed from a manuscript without music. “Vox Clamantis in Deserto” is a setting of the familiar text from Mark 1:3 and Isaiah 40:3 (“The voice of one crying in the wilderness”). In both cases, Yardley’s music inhabits the character and spirit of the companion pieces on Veni Redemptor Gentium.

The older works, with origins from across Europe, comprise vocal pieces (with and without instruments), as well as purely instrumental works. English, Hebrew, Latin, and Sephardic texts explore both Old and New Testament narratives concerning a search for “redemption and salvation.” In his liner notes, ensemble director Thompson acknowledges how conflicting interpretations of these biblical narratives have engendered tension and suffering throughout the centuries. “Though repeatedly rejected in the Middle Ages, the Judeo-Christian religions share a bond that provides a point of unified departure, a common ancestry — in other words, connection,” Thompson writes. “Perhaps, moments of peace, even if fleeting, can come from an immersion in [or] emmersion from the resplendent sound world of this centuries-old repertoire reconstructed and reimagined in Veni Redemptor Gentium.”

Part of the “reconstruction” and “reimagination” process involves the exclusion of texts “advancing undesirable themes.” Take for example Pérotin’s “Beata viscera,” which juxtaposes the miracle of Jesus’ birth (and Mary’s resulting joy) with the Jews’ rejection of Christ as the Messiah. The latter is explored in numerous internal stanzas, all excised in the performance on this recording. Thompson eloquently argues the philosophy attending this musical and editorial decision, and I have no quarrel with it. But is there some dissonance, if not irony, when an HIP ensemble removes original texts to satisfy modern sensibilities? considerations are eclipsed by Concordian Dawn’s exemplary performances, abounding with tonal beauty, crisp articulation, and clear, expressive textual delivery. The ensemble’s love and enthusiasm for their chosen repertoire is palpable. The recorded sound — rich, colorful, and detailed — places the listener in close proximity to the superb musicians. In addition to Thompson’s liner notes, there are complete texts and translations. A marvelous disc that will become a regular part of my holiday listening repertoire, and throughout the year as well.