Search - Le Mystere Des Voix Bulgares :: Ritual

The best album I've heard this year

Melanchthon | USA | 10/09/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"All the people who are going gaga over the Adiemus albums should listen to this stuff. I've just listened to this CD and another by the same choir three times in a row--as soon as I turn it off, I hear it echoing through my brain again and want to listen to it again. It's marked by choir singing without vibrato, strong dissonances (sevenths, seconds, ninths), a rhythmic feeling without percussion or other accompaniment, and very expressive melodies within a relatively limited range. It turns out that this is Christmas music from Thrace. I find it a valuable addition to my collection of December music, which ranges from George Winston to Michael Praetorius. Just delightful."

The Bulgarian voices descend into World music crossover gimm

Christopher Culver | 09/19/2007

(1 out of 5 stars)

"The songs of the Bulgarian ensembles that record under the name Le Mystere de Voix Bulgares are not real Bulgarian folk music. Rather, they are slick Communist-era arrangements that embellish Bulgarian traditions with vaster harmonies and counterpoint. However, the first two albums in this series were very captivating. Unfortunately, with RITUAL the series descended into World music crossover gimmickry.



What made the first two albums so special was that the recordings were in some cases quite old, with hiss or an old-time feel, making it feel one had stumbled upon a long-buried treasure. The ensembles, little aware that their music would reach outside Bulgaria, had a very sincere and humble tone about them. With RITUAL, however, we find overly polished production.



The theme of the album, traditional Christmas songs from the eastern Balkans, is an interesting one, and a few of the Bulgarian songs would stand out were the production only have more personality. But instead of going towards more authentic Bulgarian material, this disc instead offers the ensembles singing a few Spanish-language songs, which is an annoying gimmick.



Certainly RITUAL would be a terrible place to start with this kind of Bulgarian music. I'd recommend the album that started it all, Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares or, for a solo singer working with much the same material, Snejanka Borissova's The Bulgarian Folk Heritage."