Customer Reviews

Vision: The Music of Hildegard von Bingen

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I found the below review from the UK amazon site extremely helpful.

"Hildegard's music can be performed in many different ways. There's the 'purist' approach, that seeks to use top-class vocalists such as Emma Kirkby ('Gothic Voices') - who isn't on this album - in arrangements that come as close to the original as possible. The problem is, we simply don't know how the music really sounded when Hildegard wrote it. If you're a specialist, you'll already know why that is. But if you're not, it's all to do with the problems of interpreting the original manuscripts, and guesswork about what instrumentation Hildegard may have used. And we don't know how good Hildegard's nuns were at singing. The chances that any of them came close to technical virtuosi like Kirkby are pretty small.

One thing's for sure, though. Saint Hildegard - one of the most amazing and interesting women in recorded history - didn't have a bank of synthesisers, bass guitar samples, and sequencing machines back in the twelfth century. But, if they had been available to her, I think she would probably have made good use of them. She wrote books on science, sexuality, animals, healing, indeed all manner of things, as well as religious works, paintings, a secret language, songs, plays and letters to Emperors and Popes. Would such a woman say "No electricity in my convents, thank you very much"? I don't think so. She might well have seen the opportunity to use such facilities to discuss and glorify God and the universe.

For that reason, I think this recording is not really any less 'authentic' than the supposedly purer ones. The modernised arrangemnets here are hardly "Heavy Metal Madness, featuring the Nuns of Bingen"; the synths etc complement the vocals very delicately and effectively indeed.

I wouldn't say this is the *only* way to record Hildegard's music, for that would be very foolish. But it makes it very accessible to a modern audience, and I think it adds a new dimension to her work. If you don't have any other Hildegard works, I'd say start with this one, because it's very pleasant to listen to and it's likely to make you want to hear - and read - a lot more. If you know the 'purer' versions, I'd still say listen to it, because it's a different perspective on the material. And Hildegard herself often approached the same subject from various angles"
CHISLEHURST

SOARING, ETHEREAL voices are followed by haunting, vaguely Middle Eastern new age sound. HILDEGARD meets ENIGMA. It works. The purists make no room for this kind of interpretation of Hildegard but I remind you that the Louvre built a separate museum to house the Impressionist art not because they were so valued but because they did not consider it serious art and would not put it under the same roof with the classics. Time made buffoons of them. Listen to the sound clips and judge for yourself.

Hildegard Von Bingen (1098-1179) was known as the "Sybil of the Rhine", who was one of the first women to produced major works of theology & visionary writings. She became so popular that she was able to advise bishops, popes, & kings. She also used & wrote about the curative powers & medicinal uses of plants, animals, & stones.

She wrote liturgical plainchant honoring the saints & the Virgin Mary for the Roman Catholic Holy Days. Emily Van Evera & Sister Germanine Fritz sing Hildegard's songs with tasteful modern production from the masterful musical arrangements of Richard Souther. Together they intermix the ancient words & rhythm of Hildegard Von Bingen with modern electronic instrumentation & style. Cleverly not losing either "Time Period" producing a CD that can be played over & over. If you become tired of this semi-new age music, leave the CD alone for a while, & return a few months later for added enjoyment. If you have a good stereo, this CD will offer a vast timber with lots of background sound effects. The best I can write is that the music is very spiritually uplifting.

I bought this CD from a used shop for $1 thinking that I'd give it a try... and I ended up with one of the best CDs in my entire collection.

I listen to a lot of medieval and classical music, but my taste is much more varied. This is the first CD of this kind that I've ever bought... though I've listened to some Gregorian chant CDs before. Anyway I didn't know quite what to expect, whether or not I would like the chanting, but it is so relaxing and beautiful.

I think this CD is really unique though, because it seems to be all sung to an electronic remix. Now, I love electronic music, but I also think it's subtle enough that if anyone doesn't, they'd still be okay with the CD.

A lot of my freinds like this CD, and the type of friends who I'd never guess would. It's in our "chill" collection.
So yeah, if you like mellow chanting, beautiful soprano harmonies, electronic beats, or strange instrumentals, this is the CD for you.

I bought VISION, THE MUSIC OF HILDEGARD VON BINGEN without even hearing it first. I couldn't resist the album's cover art and the premise of recording the chants of a 12th century nun with modern original scores. I was delightfully surprised at how well the experiment works. The tracks are absolutely beautiful and haunting. In listening to one of the chants accompanied by an almost jarring drum beat, I felt as if I were dropped deep into a dense African jungle where a safari of large powerful natives are escorting small white hooded nuns to some mysterious lost city. A very different, very intriguing, very fine work.

Hildegard Von Bingen (1098-1179), 12th century Benedictine nun, abbess and mystic wrote some of the most heavenly spiritual chants, psalms and canticles in the history of the Catholic Church. Compositions that are so unique and universal in appeal that they were embraced by the 'New Age Movement' more enthusiastically then they were originally by her own Church.

Similiar yet subtly different from the lofty, remote gregorian chants sung in the monastery, the music of Hildegard is much more accessible. Her experience of the 'Divine Mysteries' is conveyed in more emotional and earthy tones, thus linking the higher aspirations of the soul with the passionate nature of the human heart.

'Vision' was performed and recorded within the stone walls of St. Andrew's Church in Toddington, England, an almost perfect location to capture the medieval atmosphere of Hildegard's compositions. The female voices involved in this project are a sharp and welcome contrast to the all male gregorian choirs most of us are more familiar with.

Truly a mystical musical experience has been captured on these 17 exquiste tracks. For the spiritual seeker in all of us!

Hildegard was a 10th century abbess and songwriter, which explains why the majority of her songs are meant to be sung by women. I began my Hildegard journey with Sequentia's "Ancient Music for a Modern Age" (which I *highly* recommend) and feel that to be a superior album. The modern feel that Souther attempted to give to this album sometimes detracts from the beautiful music written by Hildegard. However, there are also some gems on this cd, and I feel it makes a good "beginners" album. For other Hildegard fans, I recommend Sequentia's work highly.

If Hildegard Von Bingen wrote music for a hip lounge, this would be it. Its amazing that music this old ( from the 1100's) can sound so wonderful and modern with the addition of modern instruments. It really energizes the old music I have couple of recordings of Hildegard's music with out the addition of lounge, and this wonderfully differant. Lounge or medieval, Hildegard is always wonderful.

Some people take offense at the very suggestion of modernizing medieval music by adding electronic accompaniment. I have no problem with the concept of this recording, but Souther's understanding of Hildegard's music seems limited and simplistic. While there are some really gorgeous moments when the synthesizers truly complement the modal structures of the melodies, too often Souther falls back on cliched romantic chromaticism that is only a cut or two above Yanni in inventiveness and clashes with the purity and elegance of Hildegard's music.

The writings of Hildegard von Bingen are brought to life and into the modern era on this CD. My hat is off to Richard Souther for his work in keeping the words and music of this wonderful and misunderstood composer alive. I have given this CD to many friends as a gift, and would suggest it to anyone with a passion for music