900 Years - Hildegard von Bingen / Sequentia [BOX SET]

Gregorian Chant (Composer), Elizabeth Gaver (Composer, Orchestra), Hildegard von Bingen (Composer, Artist), Cologne Sequentia Ensemble for Medieval Music (Performer), David Hart (Performer), Liane Ehlich (Performer), Benjamin Bagby (Performer), Barbara Thornton (Performer), Candace Smith (Performer), Carol Schlaikjer (Performer), Caroline Trevor (Performer), Consuelo Sanudo (Performer), Elizabeth Glen (Performer), Guillemette Laurens (Performer), Gundula Anders (Performer), Heather Knutson (Performer), Janet Youngdahl (Performer), Jill Feldman (Performer), Laurie Monahan (Performer), Lena Susanne Norin (Performer), Sequentia (Artist)

Product Details

• Performer: Cologne Sequentia Ensemble for Medieval Music, David Hart, Liane Ehlich, Benjamin Bagby, Barbara Thornton, et al.
• Orchestra: Elizabeth Gaver
• Composer: Gregorian Chant, Elizabeth Gaver, Hildegard von Bingen
• Audio CD (September 15, 1998)
• Number of Discs: 8
• Format: Box set
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: RCA
• ASIN: B00000B9MS
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #427,123 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com's Best of 1998
For all the effort put behind the Hildegard von Bingen revival in the past decade, no one has been as persistent as Sequentia. They capped their Hildegard cycles in 1998 with the two-CD set Saints and then this eight-CD collection. Nowhere else can you get such a focused study, showing exemplary growth in vision and polyphonic presentation. The music isn't flashy, but it's inventive in methodical steps and an abiding sense of vocal textures that sounds multidimensionally complex and still categorically engrossing. --Andrew Bartlett

Amazon.com
Founded in 1977 in Cologne by Barbara Thornton and Benjamin Bagby, Sequentia set out in the early 1990s to document the entire catalog of Hildegard Von Bingen's music. They've completed the Hildegard cycle, and this eight-CD box collects the results in a solid, handsome cube--perfect for the bookshelf. The beauty of the music is undeniable and has wowed listeners since Canticles of Ecstasy set an international community of listeners on a path of discovery in 1994. The big bonus now is that you can skip over the periods of wowed seduction that will follow the inaugural listen, and take in the entire collection of single- and double-CD issues Sequentia has devoted to Hildegard's music. The recordings (and obviously the repertoire) are not particularly new, of course, but Sequentia has taken Hildegard to places no previous interpreter reached. Firstly, the group has been absolutely methodical with Hildegard, reaching always for the goal of a large collection of CDs by the 900-year anniversary of the composer's birth. Second, they've refined and perfected their take on Hildegard since first presenting this music almost 20 years ago. They've found smoother lines of execution--not to make the music in any way easier for listeners but rather in better proportion to Hildegard's philosophically well-proportioned vantage on music, spirituality, and life. Thus we have the collection of spiritual songs, Symphoniae, which relay earthly and celestial being to the polyphony of multiple voices and musical threads woven into the songs. We also have the breathlessly beautiful two CDs of Ordo Virtutum, a not-uncommon near-operatic corollary to medieval morality plays. This collection allows both newbies and committed fans the opportunity to work their way through hours and hours of musical bliss. --Andrew Bartlett

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Collection to Treasure, August 15, 2000

By	Tome Raider (California, United States) - See all my reviews

When my daughter was born about a year ago I initiated the project of collecting some of the "better music" for her, fearing that if she was only exposed to my preferred music she'd end up being a bass player in a biker band someday. I started with the Mozart piano concertos, then went to lots of Bach and other Baroque masterpieces, even ventured into some Wendy Carlos, with her "Turned On Bach." I cringe to think how much I've spent in the last year, although I must say that the investment has been worth every penny. We actually have neighbors occasionally knocking on our door wanting to know what the music is which we are playing. It seems there is an untapped market for higher music. Well, suffice it to say that I was linked to this "900 Years" set from some other CD which I was contemplating and for some reason I was tantilized, without really knowing exactly what to expect.

This music is divine, total heaven on plastic. It is prolonged euphoria. The ambience is so pervasive that it just seizes you, totally centers your focus, lifts your imagination. Without degenerating into too many additional cliches, let me just suggest that this music gives me a tremendous sense of well-being, a feeling which seems to be more elusive to me as the years go by.

I've only played it through two times in the past month since I received it, as it is quite lengthy and I don't want to desensitize myself to it. I listen to it in the morning when I'm first waking up. It brings me blissfully out of the twilight of my dreams into the vast possibilities for a new day. If one doesn't listen closely a superficial criticism may emerge that the CD's all sound similar. Play them again when you can focus more on the music and this concern will disappear. I will mention as well that if you don't have a one year old running your household, as I do, this music will be absolutely perfect for you and your favored one to listen to in front of the fireplace.

I don't have a sufficient command of the lexicon of this type of music to properly describe it to you: what comes to mind are floating feminine voices, clear resonant stringed instruments, it does indeed seems like the music of a thousand years ago, a thousand years from now. This is the music of eternity. I haven't yet read the substantive brochures which are enclosed respectively in each of the "jewel" cases, I'm afraid they may alter my interpretation of the music. If you're into that type of thing, however, I will mention that this is the best "packaged" box set I've yet purchased (of probably around 100). Each CD box has an outrageously beautiful piece of medieval art on it which perfectly compliments the music.

My daughter? She likes it, even she seems meditative when it plays. I envision it activating all types of neurological pathways in her adorable little head. I shall concede, however, that she is still cuter when she is dancing playfully to Metallica.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ecstasy!, April 27, 2001

By	Rachel Tortolini (Hilo, HI USA) - See all my reviews

This is a wonderful collection of CDs. The early music includes plain song, male and female chant, and instrumental pieces. The package is gorgeous with Bizantine fresco art work on each jewel case. For those contemplating purchase, the group is composed of previous releases: Canticles of Estacy, Voice of Blood, O Jerusalem, Symphoniae, Ordo Virtutum, and Saints. These total $117.28 if you buy them individually so there is a real savings here. Those who are new to early music are in for a treat. This is music so old it is new, and as has been said, could be music of 900 years into the future. It is so other worldly, you are easily put into a meditative state. There is enough music here to fill your whole day with ecstasy.