Album: Jordi Savall, Pro Pacem – Hespèrion XXI (Alia Vox)

The tone changes in the latest of Savall's exquisitely packaged CD-books.

An ambitious programme flows, from cantorial invocations and Gregorian chant, to motets by Binchois, Josquin, Guerrero and Pärt, stretching across 19 centuries of conflict. The common cause is peace, as expressed in song, painting and essay. Statistics from the UN High Commission for Refugees 2010 report are sobering, the sound of the late Montserrat Figueras's soprano voice enchanting.