Dialogos: Francis of Assisi meets Malik al-Kamil

Dialogos
Constantinople / Holland Baroque
Pentatone

Sumptuous. That's the headline we need for this new release from the famously collaborative ensemble Holland Baroque led by Judith & Tineke Steenbrink. As ever they're vital, compelling and deeply thoughtful, in fact I struggle to think of one of their albums that hasn't held my attention over the past decade or so as their philosophy that scores are inherently unfinished becomes their creative jumping-off point for so many distinctive projects. Here, they work with the Montreal-based but Persian-rooted ensemble Constantinople led by setar virtuoso Kiya Tabassian.

Dialogos does what it says on the tin, it presents new music reflecting ideas of interfaith dialogue and is inspired by accounts of a meeting between Francis of Assisi and Sultan Malik al-Kamil during the fifth crusade of 1219. As ever, such an East-meets-West medievalist approach - especially one so well-executed as this - feels as uncomfortably relevant as it does joyfully hopeful. The historical springboard for this project is that it draws on texts and melodies from 13th century sources such as Italian Laude, Franciscan hymns and also the work of Ali Ufki (Wojciech Bobowski, 1610-1675) a 17th-century Polish musician who spanned Western and Ottoman musical culture. Just as St Francis is reported to have walked barefoot across battle lines to be received by the ruler Malik-al Kamil and engaged in conversation, so we sense these two modern-day ensembles walking with similar openness into each other's musical cultures and finding commonalities to underpin their conversations as well as a diversities to celebrate.

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To read the full text of this review please visit Gramophone.co.uk (March 2026)