REVIEWS OF NEW POP, COUNTRY/ ROOTS, JAZZ AND CLASSICAL RELEASES: “ARMENIAN SPIRIT”

Kansas City Star
Sept 24 2012

The Philadelphia Inquirer

Classical: HESPERION XXI

-David Patrick Stearns

“Armenian Spirit” Musicians Armeniens, Jordi Savall directing (Alia
Vox, 4 stars)

“Jeanne D’Arc – Battles & Prisons” Montserrat Figueras, Louise Moaty,
Rene Zosso, Manuel Weber, La Capella Reial de Catalunya, Savall
directing (Alia Vox, 3 stars)

Of these two chunky packages from Hesperion XXI, the less assuming –
“Armenian Spirit” – is the more notable. Inspired partly by the death
of Hesperion’s mainstay vocalist, Montserrat Figueras, and drawn from
a collection titled “Thesaurus of Armenian Melodies,” this is a quiet,
often melancholy, all-instrumental disc that employs mostly string
instruments, such as soprano gamba and the distinctly Aremenian duduk.

The music has an exotic Eastern modality, a bit Indian, somewhat
Arabic, but with long-breathed melodies that are soulful and direct.

The “Armenian” disc comes with a 316-page booklet, but is dwarfed by
the 503-page, two-disc “Joan of Arc” set, which draws in part from
existing Hesperion discs (thus Figueras’ posthumous appearance) in a
succession of 15th-century music, some of it Dufay chansons with their
dignified word settings and Burgundian cadences. The set has a strong
narrative, with French-speaking actors re-creating events in Joan’s
life and trial, with incidental music by Jordi Savall. Ultimately,
it feels like a high-toned radio play with too much talking and too
little music.

[other reviews omitted]