La Nef - Musiques Des Montagnes (2006)

One might say that La Nef has been all over the map in its recordings of two decades, ranging from Castile and southern France in the early albums, Music for Joan the Mad (1992), and Montségur: La tragédie cathare (1996), to the Scotland of Robert Burns in My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose (2004), and the music of Greece and the Balkans featured on this 2006 album, Musiques des Montagnes. Yet in spite of its cultural diversity and obvious industriousness, this Canadian ensemble never seems spread too thin. Specializing in Medieval and Renaissance music with a strong emphasis on regional and ethnic themes, La Nef takes pains to give historically informed performances that are solidly grounded in research; but this five-member group also plays with the improvisational flexibility and verve needed in music drawn largely from oral traditions. Surveying Greek, Serbian, and Macedonian songs and dances, the ensemble is lively and spontaneous here, and presents a program with a fine mix of earthiness and tender lyricism to reflect the physical, emotional, and spiritual impulses of these surprisingly integrated folk traditions. Also notable are the complex compound rhythms and spicy harmonies that give many of these dances a contemporary world music quality; yet there are none of the cheap studio effects or boosted dance beats that afflict many international recordings, so this is far from a crossover CD. However, the historical angle that kept other La Nef albums focused is missing here, so the presentation is more like a folk anthology than an album constructed around a narrative. Even so, considering that this ensemble has provided vigorous and highly memorable interpretations of music that transcend time periods, locales, and specific events, the absence of a storyline is not such a great loss; it is certainly unnecessary for enjoying this exotic and entrancing music. Atma's sound is terrific, so everything is perfectly audible, but the volume may need periodic adjustments.