MEREDITH MONK - Songs Of Ascension

The circle is the shape chosen by Meredith Monk as the central image of her new multimedia work. Constantly shifting circles are projected all around the audience during the performances, Monk's dances are circular, and the artists involved in the project — from the vocal ensemble to the string quartet — move in a circle as well.

In line with her recent work, in "Songs Of Ascension" too Meredith Monk tries to connect the artwork to more transcendental meanings: hence the circle as a symbol of perfection, of union with the divine. Of spiritual ascension, precisely.

But looking closely, the circle is also the image that best represents the purely sonic substance of "Songs Of Ascension".

The twenty-one tracks that make up the work are not, in fact, songs in the orthodox sense: there is no real internal development, instead everything seems to flow as a single stream, rich in echoes and recurring themes. Even when the musical textures swell, they never reach a definitive peak, but circle back to the starting point.

Musically the album is richer in instrumentation than "Impermanence", but sparser in its final result. It's as if we're witnessing a kind of opposition between the vocal and instrumental parts: while the former intones religious chants ("Strand"), anguished nocturnal calls ("Mapping", "Cloud Code") or operatic passages ("Vow"), the Reynolds String Quartet's performances remain consistently still and austere, both in the four seasonal portraits (particularly evocative are "Autumn" and "Spring Variation") and in the taut "Shift" and "Burn". On stage the confrontation is even physical, with the choir and musicians on several occasions standing face to face in two semicircles.

Only at the close do the two parts finally seem to merge harmoniously: this is "Ascent", yet another masterstroke pulled off by Monk. The strings flow gently, only seemingly static, the choir fragments and each voice seems to intone its own melody (while on stage another group of singers symbolically appears up on a balcony).

But, as mentioned, the circle is the album's symbolic image: the track therefore doesn't culminate in a clean, satisfying ending, but instead fades away slowly amid the solitary comments of a violin and a soprano who, at the close, carries on the melody of the piece after everything else has dropped away.

The main limitation of "Songs Of Ascension" is perhaps its inability to sustain itself on musical substance alone for its entire length, sounding at times a bit too diluted, unable to lean on the "visual" dimension.

It nonetheless remains another significant step in Meredith Monk's long artistic journey — the only contemporary performer capable of translating the soul's most crucial and intimate questions into music with such unquestionable mastery and elegance.

Ride the wave of great music

Add OndaRock to your favorite sources on Google Discover. Don't miss our reviews, milestones and latest news straight in your feed.

Follow on Google

20/06/2011