Adiemus was performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra with additional performers and a project choral group conducted by Jenkins. The lead vocalist is Miriam Stockley from South Africa.
Each Adiemus album is a collection
of song-length pieces featuring harmonised vocal melody
against an orchestra
background. There are no
lyrics
as such, instead the
vocalists sing syllables
and 'words' invented by
Jenkins. However, rather than creating musical interest from patterns of phonemes
(as in scat singing,
or in numerous classical and
crossover compositions), the language of Adiemus is carefully stylised so as not to
distract the listener's attention from the pitch
and timbre of the voice. Syllables rarely end
in consonants, for example. In this respect it is similar to Japanese and
several other languages. The core concept of Adiemus is that the voice
should be allowed to function as nothing more than an instrument, an approach
that has become something of a trend in recent choral writing.
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