Lux Vivens (Living Light): The Music Of Hildegard Von Bingen

Jocelyn Montgomery, David Lynch | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 25, 1998)
• Original Release Date: August 25, 1998
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Mammoth / Pgd
• ASIN: B000009QU9
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #158,881 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An exploration of 'Visionary', March 8, 2002

By 

invincible_sword_goddess "invincible_sword_go... (Cleveland, OH) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Lux Vivens (Living Light): The Music Of Hildegard Von Bingen (Audio CD)

David Lynch and Jocelyn Montgomery make a creative and passionate foray into the visionary mind of Saint Hildegard von Bingen. I enjoy this album on a weekly or monthly basis because I can count on Montgomery's fairie voice and Lynch's high production standards to transport me to the era, the moment, and indeed, the emotional ecstasy von Bingen attempted to describe through the words and music of her 'Symphonia'. This album is a vehicle to a place that is both peaceful and powerful.

Take track #5, 'Viridissima', my personal favorite of the album, which posits the Virgin Mary as the metaphor for fertility. This song embodies von Bingen's genius: the scales, the patterns of melody, and cyclical cadences--all technically challenging. Montgomery deftly handles the vocal acrobatics and mathematical complexity of the music. However, Montgomery also enunciates each phrase with aplomb, and sings the notes clearly and faithfully to the spirit of the music. This song, which talks about 'the whole earth made glad/because [Mary's] womb brought forth wheat' operates on many levels. It's no small feat that Montgomery and Lynch have created an album that respects the rigidity of sacred music while at the same time celebrates von Bingen's passion for God.

I enjoyed the minimal accompianament of drone, viola, synth, and accordian. Those, along with the sound effects of birdsong and clashing swords, add context you can only get if you happen to have a literal translation of the latin in front of you. This album is well produced, powerful, and spiritual.

I just wish the music were a precursor to a Lynch movie about the enigmatic and visionary Hildegard von Bingen. That would be the perfect nexus of two visionary souls.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of kind CD, October 10, 2002

By 

Bryce David (Cyberspace) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Lux Vivens (Living Light): The Music Of Hildegard Von Bingen (Audio CD)

I love this CD. It's so enrapturing and beautiful. Unlike the Enigma stuff, which is filled with cheesy drum beats, "Lux Vivens" is just Jocelyn's amazing voice combined with moody music and some sound effects (by David Lynch no less!). The result is absolutely brilliant. My only gripe with this CD is that there should have been more music. I never wanted the CD to end.

BTW, "Lux Vivens" was made in 1998. Where's Jocelyn's follow-up CD?

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is an extrordinary work of art!, September 1, 1998

By 

Richard Grossman ([e-mail]) (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lux Vivens (Living Light): The Music Of Hildegard Von Bingen (Audio CD)

Lux Vivins is an amazingly beautiful and powerful recording that belongs in any record collection. While listening, I was transported to a world of both earthly battles and sublime mystical emotions; a world existing in the past combined with the eternal moment of spiritual vision and experience. Others I have shared this remarkable recording with have experienced similar and even more profound feelings.

The included Quicktime movie shows the deep thought and care that went into Lux Vivens, and gives an introduction to Hildegard of Bingen, a brilliant healer, artist, musician and a saint.

This recording is catagorized as "New Age". However, it crosses borders and would be difficult to catagorize as New Age, Religious, or Classical. At times it is like watching a movie without a screen, so powerful is the tapestry of sound.

A throughly amazing recording I listened to several times withou stopping the first evening I brought it home. Kudos to Jocelyn Montgomery on her first (hopefully of many) album.