Customer Reviews

On Yoolis Night: Medieval Carols & Motets

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The purity and perfection of tone in this collection makes the haunting selections a treat for anyone with a liking for mediaeval music. The Anonymous 4 reproduce chant exactly as it was intended to be done - not in an operatic style (and I am an opera buff!), but with the style of a mediaeval monastery.

The beauty of this recording is such that I often use it during meditation and prayer - and what, after all, is Christmas about?

I realize that there are muscians (including friends) who are not fond of the Anonymous 4 because of their "head sound" and lack of vibrato. I have also attended lectures that said that is what makes them "authentic". Fortunately, I am not a musician and can simply say I don't care, I enjoy their sound.

Even more than their voices, I appreciate their digging into old manuscripts and resurrecting excellent but forgotten pieces. The plainchant on this cd is taken from a 13th century antiphoner from Worcester. The remainder of the music is also English but polyphonic.

The acrostic hymn A solis ortus cardine is included with only its Christmas portion; the carols all have refrains (part of the distinction made here between carols and songs) and are from the 14th-15th century. There are five motets in traditional style. In short, despite the restrictions of time and place, the cd is varied.

This is a top notch album of traditional Christmas music - the chant and polyphony encouraged by the liturgical documents for use in the Latin Rite Catholic Church. This album shows why it is worth keeping as an active tradition.

I am relatively odd about Christmas music. I don't break out the Bing Crosby or Nat King Cole like everyone else. Instead I find that I like medieval stuff for Christmas. And this is about as perfect a Medieval Christmas album as you can ask for. The Anonymous 4 is a group of lovely female voices who, on this disc, sing the English medieval carols that made them famous initially. Put it on the CD with a roaring log fire and some Eggnog! Wonderful!

Several years ago, I bought "The New Oxford Book of Christmas Carols", and I immediately set out to find some of the rarer songs. While in the music store, I ran across On Yoolis Night. Thank goodness, I bought it, and went home to listen to some of the most incredible Christmas music I have ever heard. The true power behind this album is that is focuses on the spiritual meaning of Christmas, and the harmonies of the four singers are incredible. If you have never been exposed to midieval music, it can be a bit startling at first, but the sweet purity of the voices are completely timeless. After being innundated every Christmas with canned Xmas Muzak, treat yourself to the auditory feast of On Yoolis Night.

I take this CD out only every once in a while because it's like a very rare, fine liquor -- you don't want to spoil it with too many tastings.

The collection is both musically and spiritually rich. I played it while I was in labor with my son; it takes you outside yourself completely.

If you like a cappella, chant, medieval sounds -- this is among the best CDs you can buy, bar none. I don't write many reviews, but I'm amazed that this CD's garnered only two so far, so here I am.

'On Yoolis Night' is a collection of motets, carols, hymns, antiphons and a few other pieces in honour of the nativity - this is a medieval Christmas album. During the Middle Ages, when Europe was swept with adoration of the Blessed Virgin Mary, many of the songs around Christmas would be as much around her character as with Jesus. These works deal with the various legends, biblical and extra-canonical, as well as the traditional stories of Christmastide, primarily taken from the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries. However, the earliest piece dates from the fifth century (A solis ortus cardine) to the polyphony of the fifteenth century, which means that this disc in fact contains a thousand years of history. Also included are a few anticipatory pieces from Advent, such as the Vox clara chant (the voice of him crying in the wilderness...).

These are beautiful pieces, stunning in performance and quite remarkable - compared to modern Christmas carols, these are pieces with depth and richness, certainly devoid of much of the mercantile and later accretions that have overlaid holiday seasons in the Western world.

This is definitely a holiday album with a difference.

-- Liner Notes --
This text accompaniment to this disc is very full, so much so that the booklet is not contained within the jewel case, but rather within a slipcover in which both the CD/jewel case and the booklet reside. The liner notes include a description of the work, a brief piece about the quartet, and the lyrics of the songs both in original language and in translation - all repeated in English, German, and French sections.

-- Anonymous 4 --
Contrary to the implication of their name, the Anonymous 4 are not anonymous. This is a vocal quartet made up of Ruth Cunningham, Marsha Genensky, Susan Hellauer, and Johanna Rose at the time of this recording (Ruth Cunningham will later go on to a solo career early, and another member will join - Jacqueline Horner). They came together as a formal group in 1986, and have been ensemble-in-residence at St. Michael's Church in New York City, giving concert series in New York as well as throughout North America. They have been featured a number of times on national media in North America as well as Germany. They then went on to yet more success, eventually performing more that 1000 concerts worldwide.

Their specialty is working with chant, monophonic and polyphonic music, and working with medieval texts. According to one source, 'The group takes its name from an anonymous music theorist of the late 13th century, Anonymous IV, who is the principal source on the two famous composers of the Notre Dame school, Léonin and Pérotin.'

The group ended a touring career of nearly two decades in 2004.

Sweet, lovely, soothing beauty! This music fills your home with lightness and poetry, and evokes a spirit of peace.

I would urge everyone, not just medievalists and classical music fans, to listen to this album. It has a power and a softness which can rival any holiday music around. OK--for my holiday party, it's got to be "Hipster's Holiday," but for the morning, for quiet times, for solstice tranquility, there is nothing quite like this album.

Take a chance on it--you'll be very glad you did.

`On Yoolis Night' performed by the quartet, Anonymous 4 is another collection of works dedicated to the worship of the Virgin Mary from medieval England. Unlike `An English Ladymass' and `a Lammas Ladymass', these are more like `incidental' music for the Christmas season or, as the subtitle states, `medieval carols & motets'. Thus, these do not comprise a complete mass and there is very little polyphony. There is much more singing in unison and `chanting'.

Six (6) of the 23 tracks are in Old or Middle English and may not be much more understandable to our modern ear than the 17 tracks in Latin. While seven (7) of the works are described as `carols', including one entitled `Ave Maria', not one will be known to either your neighborhood Christmas carolers or to the Shubert fans among us. In fact, it would be very interesting to compare this `Ave Maria' with that of Shubert and to determine the history of this particular title through the ages.

This is a great change and relief for our Christmas listening after being drowned in `Silent Night' and `Away in the Manger'.

A generous 68 minutes of a different kind of Christmas music.

I have 13 of their CD's . This one is the best . Four exquisite voices , painstaking research , facinating liner notes , all of their music has this in common . What sets this apart is the clairity of the recording . Each of these ladies have amazing voices that come alive with a good set of speakers . All of the reverberations and harmonics are there , and in phase . Turn it up and listen to the crispness of each voice on every note . This is one of my favorite CD's of all time .

Quite accidentally I discovered the Anonymous 4, thanks to the feature on Amazon.com that permits one to listen to an excerpt of the cd. I immediately became a big fan of this group. Now I am disappointed that they split up, but I intend to collect all of their works. An amazing talent.