| All Artists: Hildegard von Bingen, Gregorian Chant, Elizabeth Gaver, Cologne Sequentia Ensemble for Medieval Music Title: Hildegard von Bingen: Saints Members Wishing: 3 Total Copies: 0 Label: RCA Release Date: 8/11/1998 Genre: Classical Styles: Opera & Classical Vocal, Chamber Music, Historical Periods, Classical (c.1770-1830), Early Music Number of Discs: 2 SwapaCD Credits: 2 UPCs: 054727737824, 054727737824 |
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Search - Hildegard von Bingen, Gregorian Chant, Elizabeth Gaver :: Hildegard von Bingen: Saints
 | Hildegard von Bingen, Gregorian Chant, Elizabeth Gaver Hildegard von Bingen: Saints Genre: Classical This two-disc set completes Sequentia's ambitious project to record the complete musical works of Abbess Hildegard von Bingen to commemorate the 900th anniversary of her birth in 1098. In this last release, Sequentia final... more » |
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Amazon.com This two-disc set completes Sequentia's ambitious project to record the complete musical works of Abbess Hildegard von Bingen to commemorate the 900th anniversary of her birth in 1098. In this last release, Sequentia finally takes on some of the most recognizable pieces from "A Feather on the Breath of God," the legendary recording by Gothic Voices that began the Hildegard boom 15 years ago. While you can't say that the older recording has been superseded, this one holds its own quite nicely. Where Gothic Voices took a no-nonsense approach to rhythm, making all notes more-or-less equal in length, Sequentia sings with its typical rhythmic freedom--without slipping into the rhapsodic excess that sometimes marred their earlier Hildegard discs; the momentum and shape of melody are always clear. Speaking of rhapsody, Sequentia's co-director Barbara Thornton opens the recording with a transporting rendition of a Hildegard hymn to "God the Father." --Matthew Westphal Similarly Requested CDs
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CD ReviewsAnother essential Hildegard discs dtrr | Florida USA | 02/19/2002 (5 out of 5 stars) "My first introduction to Sequentia's versions of Hildegard was Canticles of Ecstacy, which still best defines musically, for me, the soaring visions and mysticism of Hildegard. Much of this sense is to be credited to the female voices of Sequentia, not only exceptional in quality but specifically not "sweet" or self-conscious or hovering toward modern, as in other ensembles (e.g., Gothic Voices or Anonymous 4). Beautiful as these latter voices are, one can take exception to the "angelic" label if one remembers that medievals saw angels as both terrifying and beatiful, and Sequentia evokes the awe and strength of angelic sounds like no one else (to my knowledge) recording Hildegard. Happily, the female voices in Saints are as soaring, challenging and beautiful as ever.Though entirely correct historical scholarship, Saints has more male voices than female (separate, of course); the men's ensemble, called Sons of Thunder, is as strong and persuasive as any male performers of medieval vocal, and parallel the women's voices in removing any trace of self-consciousness. But while they are excellent, the male tones will be reminiscent of traditional Gregoran chant, of ecclesiastical music, not quite capturing the soaring mysticism of the female voices. Perhaps this is "built-in" to the two voices and their personalities. But I, for one, prefer the female voices, especially when Saints is meditative music for non-active listening.Instrumental interludes, composed by a Sequentia member, are refreshingly authentic and quite welcome in the progress of the discs. They are carefully crafted to the sense of Hildegard's compositions and another reason why Sequentia's versions are unsurpassed." Wonderful music to meditate by. rblock@aristotle.net | Little Rock, Arkansas | 07/23/1999 (5 out of 5 stars) "Mystical and etheral, this music has become my favorite during quiet meditation or contemplation. It seems to speak directly to that part of us which strives to transend the static of physical existence, and longs to know the infinite."
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