Rituæls
Collectif9
Analekta AN 955 (collectif9.ca/en/rituaels)
With the recent announcement that Rituæls has earned Collictif9 a 2025 JUNO Award nomination in the Classical Album of the Year (Small Ensemble) category, the intrepid ensemble may finally become celebrated for daring to go where proverbial “angels fear to tread.” Collectif9 sweeps into the musical continuum going back and forth in time stretching their distinctive interpretations of seminal repertoire as they do so. From the medieval ecstatic mystic Hildegard von Bingen through mid-20th century Neo-Romantic Michael Tippett, “Holy Minimalist” Arvo Pärt to musically omnivorous Bryce Dessner, and the daring Canadians Nicole Lizée and Jocelyn Morlock, Collectif9 justifies the JUNO nomination.
On Rituæls Collectif9 explores the nature of connections, a voyage departing way back in time to arrive at some point in an elegant 21st century conservatoire. Yet somehow, to describe it as such might give the impression of overcooking, when in fact this is a masterpiece of subtlety.
The music floats gorgeously – from the opening Drone across the sound of von Bingen’s O vis æternitatis and Pärt’s Psalom, through to Dessner’s Tenebre – executed to perfection by the ensemble. The rich and unpredictable and eloquent musicality of the Canadians’ work – Lizée’s ethereal Another Living Soul and Morlock’s penitent Exaudi – add to the surprises, to every delicate curlicue of a bassline melody and close-knit ensemble passages which this extraordinary Canadian nonet executes to perfection.
