Originally recorded in 1989, The Sacred Bridge contains a speculative program linking various genres of Christian and Jewish religious music, most of it medieval. The Boston Camerata continued to perform the program in various forms in subsequent years.
"A really nice selection of American patriotic music from the Revolution to the onset of the Civil War. The performances are excellent. It includes some of the best work, including his patriotic anthem Chester, by the outstanding New England choral composer William Billings."
The United States of America, a promised land? Free America! celebrates the ideas and hopes which preoccupied the young American Republic in the years 1770-80: the need for freedom of assembly, a willingness to rebel and go into battle fully aware of the cost, but above all, a desire for a new harmony whose songs, hymn tunes, and marches accompany the long journey to a new “promised land.” A powerful message which informs the first collaboration between harmonia mundi and Anne Azéma now leading the Boston Camerata.