Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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...

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.

This album captures the influences of all the places that a pilgrim from Europe might encounter on the way to the Holy Land (Israel). The first track (Dinaresade) opens with a very lively and catchy Syrian traditional tune. While this track has a very Arabic feel to it, the next song employs bagpipes in a traditional 14th century English tune.

The third track provides another lively woodwind tune with a Hellenistic mood. "Mari stanko" (traditional Bulgarian), the 5th track, is particularily interesting with long, slow female melodies that are interspersed with very rapid dance-like interludes. "Sei willekommen Herre Christ" provides a peaceful breather for the next track.

The next several tracks are short traditional Croation songs, ranging from chanting, chant-response, to renaissance-style dance music. The traditional Sufi track (Mevlana) makes a fitting close to the disc.

All in all, the middle-eastern influence is more prominent than the western-European influence (which may be why I like it so much). If you like early music, especially with the mystic sounds that Mediterranean music provides, then pick this disc up. (You can't beat the price either!)

This is one of the best renaissance discs I have ever heard. The long opening track is almost a jam session. Superb sound. Buy this

Naxos may be a bargain label, but nothing is bargain basement in his wonderful music CD. They have put together a wonderful musical journey compiling music that a traveler in the Middle Ages might have heard on the road from Europe to the Holy Land. I so appreciate it when the liner notes are included and these provide some wonderful history. There is an incredible variety of music and instruments. I can't think of another recording where you could hear the bagpipe, shawm, harp, hurdy-gurdy, cymbals, tambourine, and bamboo flutes all laced with fabulous singing. It thoroughly enjoyed this music journey.

I play the Rebec and wanted an example of ancient music to get the style. These are pleasant music pieces to listen to and a sample of that genre of music.

If Ensemble Unicorn is great, Unicorn combined with the Middle-Eastern-inspired Ensemble Oni Wytars is even better! Actually, the two groups seem to share many of the same members, along with Ensemble Accentus (which focuses on Spanish and Sephardic music), but with different directors for each: Michael Posch for Unicorn, Marcos Ambrosini for Oni Wytars, and Thomas Wimmer for Accentus. This CD brings the musicians together to offer a stimulating combination of western and eastern-influenced music that might have been heard or played by medieval Pilgrims making the journey eastward. The European tunes focus on the Christmas season, while the Balkan and Near Eastern selections are traditional, handed down orally through the centuries and interpreted here with a zeal that should be as appealing to belly dancers as to early music enthusiasts (and I know many people who fall into both categories!). Instruments used include chalumeau, cheremia, cornemuse bechonnet, darbukka, davul, def, gayda, gittern, kaval, nyckelharpa, sackpipa, tamburello, tombak, vihuela d'arco, and a number of others that you actually might have heard of before--bagpipe, rebec, recorder, rebec, shawm, ud and the like. Ellen Santaniello also contributes vocals. I was surprised and delighted when I played this CD for the first time, and I continue to be each time I hear it again. If you like this recording, be sure to check out the other collaboration between Ensemble Unicorn and Ensemble Oni Wytars, "Music of the Troubadours", also from Naxos.

I love this cd--all the tracks are great, especially "On the way to Bethlehem"!

Despite the title this album has nothing to do with Christmas music. The sounds range from Celtic to Middle Eastern. While they date from the days of the Crusades, they sound great to my ears in the nineties. The last track makes you want to belly dance!