Fundamental, archaic melodies - monodic, canonic or written in parallel intervals, melodies seeming to stride forward endlessly, with strange ornaments, full of compositional mysteries - it is nearly impossible to switch off this kind of meditative singing, especially not in one's head. Their suggestive effect hardly requires any special kind of conceptual formulation. But the Ensemble Providencia of Paris, consisting of Andrea Parias, Sarah Richards, Stéphanie Leclercq and Hanna Järveläinen, wanted to embark on a research expedition. These four set out to investigate the developmental connections in language and music between England and France, "Crossing the Channel," during the period from the 11th to the 13th century. What an adventure!
The recording was made in Beaulieu sur Dordogne, a small town in southern France, in a beautiful Romanesque church with unique acoustics. It was so quiet there that even the birds, curious about the singing, continued circling round the church for a long time at dusk. They had not heard music like this for an eternity.