A Lammas Ladymass: 13th and 14th Century English Chant and Polyphony;

The huge success of Anonymous 4--four women who sing nothing but chant and polyphony from the Middle Ages--is one of the remarkable musical phenomena of the '90s. What this ensemble has proved is that, when it comes to music, time is insignificant and arbitrary. Art, and certainly that which is spiritual, is timeless and transcendent. Humans relate to the elemental forces of music the same today as they did last year or last millenium. This latest release is a return to the musical sources featured on the group's first, sensational recording, An English Ladymass. Here are chants and polyphonic pieces from 13th- and 14th-century England, selected and arranged to "create a Ladymass for the summer portion of the church year, as it might have been sung around the feast of Mary's Assumption in August." It's beautiful; it's sublime; it's otherworldly; and it's timeless. --David Vernier