'The Route to the Orient

Includes music by Escobar, J Ponce, Morales, J del Encinar

Hiroyuki Koinuma japanesell Ichero Seki shakubacln Yukio Tanaka biwa Prabhu Edouard tabla

Ken Zuckerman sarod Montserrat Eigureras sgr La Capella Reial de Catalunya;

Hesperion XXI / Jordi Sayan Alia Vox C)C) AVSA9856 (158' • DDD) Savall's forces perform beautifully in a missionary life-to-death journey Francis Xavier was the founder, with Ignatius

Loyola, of the Society ofJesus. From 1541 until his death in 1554 he travelled as a missionary to Africa, India and the Far East.

His continuing influence in part//or infiddium is attested by the number of Jesuit schools and colleges named after him (Zubin Mehta was educated at one such,

St Xavier's College in Bombay).

This interesting package traces Francis Xavier's life, from his birth in Navarre to his death off the coast of China. Whether the book accompanies the CDs, or vice versa, is a moot point. I haven't seen the finished product, but the text includes lengthy quotations from writers of the time. Both sides of the Protestant-Roman Catholic divide are represented, too: if you want the 95 theses that Luther nailed to the door of that church in Wittenberg, here they all are. Strangely absent are detailed descriptions of the music and, it seems, texts and translations of the sung items.

Never mind. The music is beautifully performed and recorded. The first track, marking Xavier's birth, is an "alba" played on the shawm. Vocal and instrumental pieces follow: a saltarello for viols and percussion dies away, a pavan for brass and percussion reflects the battle of Pavia. A thread running through the programme is provided by "0 Gloriosa Domina": played as an improvisation on the psaltery, it's then heard as Gregorian chant in triple time. It reappears, fascinatingly, as a raga and, once Xavier has reached the furthest point of his travels, as solos for Japanese instruments.

Another moot point is whether these improvisations would be recognised by Xavier and his contemporaries. There is no gainsaying the powerful impression made by the funerary pieces by Morales, but this is more of a history lesson than an aesthetic experience.

Richard Lawrence