On the Way to Bethlehem (Music of the Medieval Pilgrim)

Syrian Traditional (Composer), Christmas Traditional (Composer), Traditional (Composer), Leonel Power (Composer), Bulgarian Traditional (Composer), German Anonymous (Composer), Croatian Traditional (Composer), English Anonymous (Composer), Anonymous (Composer), Guillaume Dufay (Composer), Macedonian Traditional (Composer), Turkish Traditional (Composer), Manuscrit du Roi Anonymous (Composer), Sufi Traditional (Composer), Ensemble Oni Wytars (Performer), Ensemble Unicorn (Performer, Orchestra), Bernhard Landauer (Performer), Ellen Santaniello (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Ensemble Oni Wytars, Ensemble Unicorn, Bernhard Landauer, Ellen Santaniello
• Orchestra: Ensemble Unicorn
• Composer: Syrian Traditional, Christmas Traditional, Traditional, Leonel Power, Bulgarian Traditional, et al.
• Audio CD (March 26, 1996)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Naxos
• ASIN: B00000144X
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #80,447 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #41 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Vocal Non-Opera > Partsongs
  • #85 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Vocal Non-Opera > Songs & Lieder > General

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exotic jams, February 26, 2001

By 

S. Gustafson "Holy Roman Emperor" (New Albany, IN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: On the Way to Bethlehem (Music of the Medieval Pilgrim) (Audio CD)

Yes, fortunately, this record does not contain anything you'd recognise as depressing Xmas kitsch.

Instead, the record wishes to envisage a journey of mediæval pilgrims, beginning in Western Europe, and moving through the Balkans towards the Holy Land. As such, the disk contains a mixture of Western European, Balkan, and Islamic melodies.

The strength of Ensemble Unicorn and Oni Wytars is their ability to use early music as the basis for extended jam sessions. This recording is framed by two such jams, each more than twelve minutes in length, the opening -Dinaresade- and the closing -Mevlana-. Based on Middle Eastern themes, these are excellent performances, rich in atmosphere. Fans of contemporary groups who make use of similar material, from Loreena McKennitt to Dead can Dance, may find this record interesting, and well worth the Naxos price.

FWIW, Ensemble Unicorn and Oni Wytars also collaborate on the -Black Madonna- recording, another Naxos release I can highly recommend.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I WANT MORE!, June 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: On the Way to Bethlehem (Music of the Medieval Pilgrim) (Audio CD)

Great melodies, better instrumentation....INCREDIBLE MUSIC!!! I find western-europe music by ensemble Unicorn great, but the oriental part by Oni Wytars is simply amazing, both the balkanic and oriental songs. My only regret is that I loved the ensemble too much to bear the fact that no other record by them is anywhere to be found...

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A real joy, October 19, 2009

By 

M. M. McMahon (Kansas City, MO United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: On the Way to Bethlehem (Music of the Medieval Pilgrim) (Audio CD)

Some early music is academically interesting but not very compelling listening. This album definitely does NOT fit into that category. It will have you taping your foot and shaking your, well, whatever shakes. Actually, I'm putting it onto my mp3 player to take to the gym for my cardio workout. Even the slower pieces have enough real energy to keep me moving right along. I leave it to the others to give a more technical review. I can just say that I love it. Puts a smile on my face. Makes me want to practice drumming, learn bagpipe and hurdy-gurdy and whatever a shawm is. I want to share it with all my early music friends.