The Home Of The Concept Album

It would be easy to become obsessive about collecting the sumptuously packaged and meticulously researched releases from Jordi Savall's Alia Vox label, even without considering the musical content. The concept album is alive and well and residing in Catalonia. The premise behind this two disk set ( packaged together with an illustrated 300 page book ) is the life and times of St Francis Xavier, one of the founding lights of the Jesuits. Titled The Route To The Orient, it paints a musical portrait of the travels of Francis from southern France and northern Spain through to Rome and then travels to spread Christ's word in Africa, India, Indonesia, Japan and finally the borders of China where he succumbed to a tropical disease. Wisely perhaps, no time is spent on the more contentious of the Jesuits evangelical methods. Savall's core ensembles Hesperion XXI and La Capella Real De Catalunya are augmented by invited musicians playing oud and percussion from North Africa, sarod and tabla from India and shinobue and shakuhachi from Japan. The music ranges from French troubadour roots to Gregorian chant, courtly viol consorts and the improvisations of the invited musicians around the themes of the chants, which weave a narrative thread throughout the two disks. There is no hint of contrivance in the links posited and the entire project holds together perfectly.