Lethe

Lethe - The courts of the Orient

Lethe -λήθη (Greek for oblivion), was one of the five rivers of the underworld, Hades. Those who drank the water of the Lethe river would experience forgetfulness for ever. Lethe as opposite to Mneme (memory) was thus the Greek Goddess of Oblivion.

This album is an homage to musical traditions from distant places that remained in oblivion for ages long. The music was written and performed by musicians in exile or in refuge far away from their homelands, seeking the “Other” towards the Orient. The songs and the instrumental works included in Ex Silentio’s fourth album reflect the musical life of the oriental courts of Thessalonica, Nicosia and Istanbul, from the Middle Ages to the 17th century.

El rey de Francia is a Sephardic ballad in Ladino -the Judeo-Spanish language- also known under the name El Sueño De La Hija Del Rey (The King’s Daughter’s Dream).

The Nisabur and the Bestenigar pesrevs, from the collection of Dimitrie Cantemir (1673-1723) are presented here arranged by Thimios Atzakas, while Murabba is an old Ottoman song included in the collection of Ali Ufki (1610-1675). Mahur semai is a later example of instrumental Ottoman music from the 19th century.

A great Troubadour, Raimbaut de Vaqueiras (?-1207), spent the last years of his life in Thessalonica where he wrote some of his finest music, before dying in an assault together with his beloved mentor and King Boniface in 1207. The short lived court of King Boniface in Thessalonica was the result of the fall of the Byzantine Empire, in 1204, and the newly founded Latin Empire of Constantinople. The Canso-Sirventes No m’agrad starts out as an elegy and ends in a dithyrambic tone, with promises of more conquests in the Middle East. It was written in all likelihood in the aftermath of the crusaders’ heavy defeat in Adrianople on April 14, 1205, which would place it in June or July of that year. Planh is a typical mourning song from a Troubadour to his patron’s memory. This improvisation on the recorder is a mourning song that Raimbaut did not manage to dedicate to Boniface, or else a planh that was meant to be written.

The remote court of the Lusignan Kings in Nicosia, Cyprus, developed an exquisite late medieval musical culture equal only to Paris and Avignon. The typical formes fixes of virelai and rondeau are representative of the secular French art of the time. The poems, centered around courtly love, are expressing desire and sorrow deriving from love without response. The absence of response and the distance of the lovers are creating a paradoxal nearness between them, especially true to the virelai J’ai mon cuer mis.

The other chansons, including the three-voice rondeau Quant me souvient and the two two-voice rondeaux Douce biaute and Se brief retour are written in an elaborated subtilior style. This secular and polyphonic art music connected to the court musicians Jean Hanelle (1380-1436) and Gilet Velut (fl.1410-30) is reflecting the late Gothic style of the Orient.

Dimitris Kountouras, Athens, 2020

Recorded September 11-14, 2019

Location: Aghios Lavrendios (Greece)
Balance engineer & recording producer: Jonas Niederstadt
Corporate Design: Tim+Tim, timandtim.com
Cover photography: Ronin de Goede, roninview.com
Booklet photography: Jonas Niederstadt, except p. 7 Christina Karagiannis, p. 24 Sevi Tsoni
English translations: Stavros Deligiorgis, Orfeas Apergis, Yannis Panourgias


Produced by Jonas Niederstadt

©+℗ 2020 Carpe Diem Records

Musikansich.de

"Following Mneme (2015), Carpe Diem Records is now releasing a new album by the Greek ensemble Ex Silentio. Lethe features music mainly from the 17th century (but also older pieces and one from the 19th century) from courts in the eastern Mediterranean region such as Thessaloniki, Nicosia, and Istanbul. This music straddles European and Middle Eastern traditions and is little known in our part of the world. Lethe was one of the five rivers in the Greek underworld. Those who drank from it experienced lifelong forgetfulness. The title therefore sets the tone, as listeners are treated to forgotten works that have long been forgotten.

It is worth listening to the music carefully, as the compositions it contains are consistently inspiring. Some of them are connected to the French tradition and sound familiar, while others have a more oriental touch and seem unfamiliar at first. But Ex Silentio skillfully takes the listener on a journey through time and guides them through the centuries. The instrumentalists are true masters of their instruments. Conductor Dimitris Kountouras manages to breathe new life into the compositions and make the ensemble appear as a unified whole. You can really feel how they play together. The two singers, Fanie Antonelou and Theodora Baka, are outstanding. This is particularly audible in the nine-minute No m'agrad, perhaps the highlight of the CD.

Lethe delights with rarely or never-before-heard music, played in perfect harmony by the ensemble Ex Silentio and masterfully captured by producer Jonas Niederstadt. Another highlight from Carpe Diem Records. Highly recommended!" Ingo Andruschkewitsch, Musikansich.de