In the booklet-notes to this recording Richard Einhorn relates the story behind the work’s composition. It came about after his first encounter with the classic silent film by Carl Dreyer, The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928). Long fascinated by the enigma of Joan of Arc, Einhorn was moved to compose what he calls a “meditation on the life and personality” of this most uneasy of medieval French icons, inspired by what he thinks of as one of the greatest films ever made. Understandably, he intends the music to transcend its origins and stand on its own away from the film. Which immediately brings to mind two questions: is this simply film music in another guise? and: does it truly stand on its own? A number of hearings suggests that it more closely approximates a song-cycle on a theme, the sometime presence of a choir notwithstanding, but it is harder to determine whether that collection of 15 episodes on the story of Joan of Arc exists coherently once shorn of the commentary provided externally by Einhorn himself. The episodic nature of the music and the set texts lend themselves to the idea of a series of meditations on the significance of Joan of Arc, rather than any real attempt at drama or narrative. In this sense the work does hold up, revealing itself as concerned with the religious and social reverberations of Joan’s life and death as with her own personal odyssey.
The music is a hybrid, drawing on medieval and modern traditions, showing a familiarity with, say, John Adams as well as Hildegard or the Notre Dame school. There is a simplicity of line and a love of sheer sound (especially when it comes to the use of the Anonymous 4’s voices in seven of the 15 sections) which makes Voices of Light as approachable as any modern piece could be asked to be. The choral sections are placed, appropriately enough, in a French tradition which includes Durufle and Faure. In this sense as well as others, then, it can be termed a backward-looking pastiche, but it contains its own beauties. It is also undoubtedly sincere and has rich contributions from the performers, with Anonymous 4 being first among equals.'