When you arrive at the main house at the Shaker Village in Sabbathday Lake, Maine, you’re likely to be greeted by Sister Frances or Brother Arnold, presiding members of the small and still-functioning community of six that continues to maintain the values, commitments, and beliefs of the United Society of Believers, better known as the Shakers. Sometimes described as a “Protestant Monastic Community” the original society began in England in 1747, and a small contingent, including founder “Mother Ann” Lee, set out for America in 1774, eventually establishing small, self-contained villages that stretched from Maine to Kentucky. And as Sister Frances and Brother Arnold will tell you, to today’s Shakers, as with their predecessors, among the most prized gifts from God–and this is perhaps the group’s greatest legacy to the world–is that of song, and every community had its own vast repertoire, hundreds, even thousands of songs primarily carried in the memories of the members. Some of these, however, were transcribed in various “non-traditional” notation, and in the spring of 1994 Joel Cohen devoted many hours to researching Shaker tunes, recorded in manuscripts at the Sabbathday Lake Shaker library. If you happened to hear Cohen and his Boston Camerata’s first (1995) album to result from that research–Simple Gifts (Erato)–you know the amazing variety, beauty, and irresistible, folksonglike catchiness of many of these songs, which address everything from joy to grief to praise to humble assertions of faith. And as you witness the singing, you see how the singers easily become more and more energized by some spontaneous, perpetually rejuvenating force.
Once again, Cohen and his colleagues–including several members of the Shaker community–give performances that truly convey an impression of this simple, unadorned music’s inherent power, power whose essence resides in one of the most basic of human communal experiences: unaccompanied voices singing in unison. Occasionally, the singers join in the rhythmic foot-stomping and dancing for which the Shakers are known, and the old floorboards really boom and thunder and you can just picture those original 18th century celebrants similarly rejoicing in their faith through their music. These tunes are not just simple hymns, either. Each has a distinct rhythmic scheme that sometimes combines with a very tricky, angular melody that when sung up to speed will challenge even the most agile, technically accomplished singer. Soprano Margaret Frazier and tenor Timothy Evans are particular standouts on this program, but all concerned should be commended not only for first rate musical performances, but also for their dedicated efforts in bringing to light even more of these important and nearly forgotten treasures of American music. The sound is as true and honest as the music, perfectly capturing the detail of the singing and the ambience of the big room in the main house at Sabbathday Lake where the recording was made. [11/17/2000]
