This is one of a series of mind-stretching albums first released in the 1990s by the medieval ensemble
La Reverdie, developing concepts by Italian vocalist and medieval harpist Ella de Mircovich. Her booklet, written in Italian and translated into English, French, and German, represents a substantial intellectual effort, both for her and for the reader. But its central point is easily summarized: Celtic culture, and specifically its conceptions of the feminine, left traces all over medieval music not only on the British Isles but on the Continent as well. For instance, the tradition of courtly love in the songs of the troubadours and trouvères is linked to pagan religious traditions in which men were motivated to fight by the desire to serve a transcendent goddess. Mircovich freely concedes that the mechanisms by which this diffusion occurred are unknown, and some of the scholarship on which she draws, such as that of French Celtic specialist Jean Markale, is quite controversial. But from the listener's point of view the question is whether she comes up with a program that makes musical sense, and here the results are positive. The program is divided into four sections, each titled in Gaelic and Latin, and devoted to Love, Royalty, Heroic Adventure (this is the Gaelic concept of Echtra), and Vision, which attempts with limited success to link the Marian impulse to Celtic roots. The strength of the program lies in the variety of pieces that do indeed reveal at least potential links to the Celtic sources. King Arthur and Tristan (whose name is thought to be Pictish) and Iseult were known far beyond the British Isles, and the long history of music each of these inspired began in the medieval era and is represented here.
La Reverdie's clean, text-focused interpretations serve Mircovich's concept well, but complete texts might have been a help; they are summarized instead. This album, reissued by the Arcana label in 2009, should continue to find an audience not only among medievalists but among Celtic enthusiasts of the more speculative kind.