Shining a light on the medieval
Illuminations
The Toronto Consort with guests. Trinity-St Paul’s Centre. March 2. Repeats March 3. Torontoconsort.org
The Toronto Consort’s latewinter program, Illuminations, is a fascinating journey back into the music of the medieval world. This is before printing presses turned the colourful art of handwritten texts into massproduced books.
The Arab world was no stranger to highly illustrated sacred and secular storytelling at the time. So, in an inspired meeting of cultures, the Consort has added Persian music to the mix, as well, with the help of percussionist Naghmeh Farahmand, young setar master Pejman Zehedian and oud player Demetrios Petsalakis.
The program embraces both sacred and secular texts, songs and tunes, most originating between the 12th and 14th centuries. It also embraces both European and Persian cultures — separately and in their potential intersections. Helping to achieve that embrace is a continuous series of projections showing illuminated manuscripts from both Europe and Persia.
The idea is compelling, and its execution gently led by the Consort’s artistic director David Fallis on Friday night was achieved smoothly and tastefully as it alternated the European material with the Persian, and then combined musical forces to close each half of the program.
Over the past few seasons, Toronto’s musicians have increasingly tried to bridge cultures. In this case, people played and sung in unity to show that the fear and distrust we are fed by the wider world have no basis when people get together to share their art and cultures.
Often in intercultural concerts, the vocals clash a little bit. Many non-European singers produce a smaller, more natural sound, while the classically trained vocalists from the European tradition sing in a bigger, more mannered style.
This little discrepancy didn’t surface with the Toronto Consort, because many of its members are not primarily singers. Instead, voice is part of a wider palette of musical possibilities they have to offer.
The contents of the program drew from material found in the Book of Hours, a popular devotional text in medieval times, from Persian epic poetry by 12th century Persian poet Nezami Janjavi, the Marian miracle stories found in the Codice rico, medieval Apocalyptic devotions (usually sung on Christmas morning) and the collection of Persian melodic material known as the Radif.
Dim lighting, projected details of illuminated books, the preponderance of chant-like music and the repetitive, cyclical nature of the Persian segments in this program gave the evening a deeply intimate feel much more conducive to contemplation or meditation.
It was only in the joint improvisations involving all the musicians on stage that we could feel the jolt of energy common in a traditional concert of Western music.
But concerts not always have to be about pumping out energy. In this case, finding musical concord between cultures was just as satisfying.
John Terauds is supported by the Rubin Institute for Music Criticism, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation.