Les Mystére des Voix Bulgares, Volume Two

In these times of wildfires, oil spills, the pandemic, threats to our democracy and all manner of trials, troubles and tribulations, it sometimes takes a little extra effort to find what is beautiful in our world and it's in those moments that listening to staggering polyphonic marvel that is the music of Les Mystére des Voix Bulgares, the female choir music of Bulgaria, where east meets west, can be a healing and cleansing experience.

This music was first heard by this blogger in 1990 and not long afterward came a blissful and spine-tingling concert in Los Angeles, which included instrumental interludes that were impressive as expertly-performed and also fun.  You couldn't help walking out of the venue feeling refreshed and hopeful and someday it would be great to hear this music in person again to find that sense of renewal.

After the surprising commercial success of the first volume of Les Mystére des Voix Bulgares, issued in 1987 (first on the British alternative [is that a reasonable descriptor?] label 4AD and then on Elektra's Nonesuch Explorer), a second volume, also recorded in Bulgaria by Swiss organist and musicologist Marcel Cellier was quickly released.  If it didn't have the shock and surprise greeting listeners from the first volume, there doesn't really seem to be any lessening of quality.

These recordings range from 1957 to 1987, with one performance from that early date, several from the Seventies and the remainder from the Eighties.  There were several ensembles involved, but there really is no strong difference, other than some have more solo work and there is one quartet piece.  It's all gorgeous, beautifully rendered and the sound, even from these varied periods, is excellent.

It's been several years since this music has been heard, but returning to it now seems particularly apt and needed.

Le Mystére des Voix Bulgares

When this blogger started listening to "world music" in 1990, this was one of the first recordings that was purchased, mainly because the 1986-87 (first on the British label 4AD and then on the American Nonesuch Explorer label) re-release of the 1975 Disques Cellier release by Marcel Cellier became something of a surprise world-wide phenomenon.

Obviously, the quality of an experience can't be repeated and, the more distant in time, the less can be recalled.  But, listening to the opening polyphonic harmonic vocal gymnastics employed by the two dozen singers of the Bulgarian State Radio and Television Female Vocal Choir, still provokes something of that spine-tingling feeling of just over a quarter century ago.

These are traditional folk songs, from weddings, harvests, dancing, and work, as well as from legend and myth in a part of the world little known to most of us in America, but which has ancient roots and connectivity between east and west that clearly have formed the unique qualities of this remarkable vocal music.

But, there is a distinctively modern "artistic" sheen put on the old folk origins, both in arrangment by Phillip Koutev and Krasimir Kyurkchiyski, and on the recording quality.  Purity is often a word used to describe this work and it is true from multiple standpoints:  the quality of each singer's voice, in the roots of the material, and in the fine sound recording quality.

To this listener, everything about this album is fantastic and it seems almost unfair to pick out highlights.  There are the ensemble passages, solos, and small group harmonizing--all of which have their particular aspects to recommend them.  One of the more notable elements, though, is the use of dissonant harmonies in diaphonic singing, described in the notes as "two voices (solo or choral) [which] track each other in parallel intervals.

Koutev and Kuykchiyski took the traditional pieces and reworked them in a modern way utilizing changes in mode and harmonic intervals, but always with an eye to preservation of the magic and power of the source materials, while recalibrating the works for modern presentation.

There are also occasional uses of instruments, such as the gayda, similar to a bagpipe, the kaval, a flute, and the gadulka, or violin, as well as some percussion.  These are often introduced as breaks in the vocal pieces or as stand-alones, in addition to accompaniment to the choir.

The writer of the liners, composer Ingram Marshall, points out that the use of a-harmonic materials by Eastern European classical composers like Bartók, Ligeti, Stravinsky, and Penderecki is often derived by folk music found in their native countries, like Hungary or Poland.  Marshall concluded his essay by asking "why more Western composers do not work with indigenous singers and instrumentalists as a springboard to creativity."  Of course, there are some who have used Eastern music for this purpose, including Lou Harrison and the inspiration he took from Balinese gamelan music.

In any case, Le Mystére des Voix Bulgares is still a stunning listening experience and there are several follow-ups from the ensemble, renamed after the fall of Communism, a few of which will be highlighted here in the future.  Finally, one of the most memorable concert-going experiences for this listener was seeing the ensemble perform at UCLA's Royce Hall sometime in the early to mid Nineties--where the recordings could only hint at the power and expressiveness to be found in a high-quality concert hall.