Wings

Knowing nothing about this seven-piece, save that it hailed from Hungary and appeared to have a religious bent, on first hearing I found myself somewhat confused. The general sound and interplay of voices on each track was quite consistent, but one song was suggestive of a Southern African choir; the next had a vaguely Mediterranean atmosphere; another was clearly one of medieval Cantigas de Santa Maria by Galicia's King Alfonso X. And the CD concluded with a sensitive and fervently sung arrangement of the North American spiritual As I Went Down to the River to Pray'. It became evident that the group intended to make a global tour of mostly Christian, occasionally ecumenical songs, and integrate them into their own style and aesthetic.

The arrangements (and occasional original compositions) and their performances clearly belong to the tradition of Western art music, with a bow in the direction of the Byzantine tradition of the Orthodox church. Musical director Tamás Bubnó has managed to combine all the disparate streams listed above, and more besides, into a coherent yet diverse whole; compare the trance-like, minimalist yet rigorously planned ‘László Sáry: Zsoltárkánon (Psalm Canon)’ with the Sardinian lullaby ‘Dormi Pizzinu’. Rich and rewarding.