Search - Anne-Marie Deschamps, Venance Fortunat :: Chants des Voutes Cisterciennes

This is a skillfully performed, thoroughly scattered program--"scattered" in more than one sense. There are works from five countries and five centuries--ranging from rhapsodic 9th-century French plainchant to bouncy 13th-century English motets--with no common thread linking them. The program notes are no help, dealing mostly with St. Bernard of Clairvaux, founder of the Cistercian order. The point of this disc is apparently the acoustic of the titular Cistercian vaults (in this case, the vaults under the Abbey of Silvanès in France): said acoustic is captured about as well as a recording can. Anne-Marie Deschamps and her singers have obviously put a lot of thought and effort into their performances; they've made a fine record--if you can make sense of it. --Matthew Westphal