Anonymous 4 – Four Centuries of Chant
Today we bring you a splendid review of Anonymous 4′s Four Centuries of Chant. If you were with us when we reviewed Calling All Dawns, then you’ll know I love this group and the great job they did on the Irish lament “Caoineadh”. If you don’t know who these lovely ladies are, swing by their bio page and start reading before moving on!
Four Centuries of Chant is a compilation album of personal favorites of some of A4′s previous works. The album itself is broken down in parts containing one or a group of tracks from each previous album, so we get a good taste of what A4 has to offer, and certainly cover four centuries of chant. Some examples of albums that tracks were taken from are An English Ladymass (tracks 1-3), A Star in the East (track 10), 1000: A Mass for the End of Time (track 16) & The Origin of Fire (track 19-20).
There is plenty of wonder and quality singing found within each track of the album, so to come home and kick off your shoes and relax is definitely optional with this album. Though, it would be a great thing if whoever does pick this album up take into consideration the meaning of each track.
Each track flows into one another seamlessly, like a performance at a concert with no interruptions. It would be no surprise if you went to hear these chants live that they would be performed in this fashion. Chant is usually always associated with a spiritual context, so it would be odd to hear these songs sung and then given a round of applause in between each one.
When I sit down to listen to Four Centuries of Chant and read the booklet and the translated text, I feel very connected to each track as though if each one stood alone as its own. Normally when listening to chant, I usually absorb a group of songs, or album, as one entire being. I don’t do this intentionally, but when I don’t know what’s happening in an album or group of songs, it doesn not feel as alive to me. The second I do read the text, I’m definitely set into a different plain of listening. This is the case here as well. I find myself engrossed into the music while reading the text. Reading also helps out when I’m trying to follow along in the listening because I know I can’t stay concentrated on nothing by chant for an extended period of time like and hour or more. I’m sure other musicians feel the same.
I applaud Anonymous 4 for their great performances and their take on chant. It’s quite a difficult task to sing music from earlier times solely because we have no recordings or real ideas on how it sounded. It would be a pretty obnoxious if any performer were to claim to sing “real” chant, it’s just plain impossible. fortunately, we can enjoy A4′s wonderful singing and be enveloped in a sea musical ecstasy. They did a wonderful job on carefully choosing each track and I give them my thanks. I wouldn’t want Four Centuries of Chant any other way.
For more information about the discography that was used in this album, head to the album’s page here.
- Posted in: Features
- Tagged: Anonymous 4, Four Centuries of Chant, Review
