Chants, Chestnuts and Other Joyful Noise

Medieval music specialists Sequentia offer this spectacular disc illustrating a great moment in music history, the 12th century move away from the austere bounds of plainchant. Monks in central and southwestern France allowed upper voices to sing more notes than lower, thereby creating a kind of kinetic embroidery. Simpler, single-voice liturgical settings are also included, but even here, the elegant undulations of this music, and the luxurious solo singing and massed response of the Sequentia singers, seem to create lush Brucknerian harmony where, strictly speaking, there is none.

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