This is the record that started the Hildegard craze back in 1982--and you need only listen to Emma Kirkby glide and soar through Columba aspexit (the opening hymn) to understand why. Gothic Voices performs the music very simply, either alternating soloists and unison choir over a drone or using a single unaccompanied voice. The singers render Hildegard's extravagant poetic imagery and melody not with the rhythmically fluid, ecstatic approach favored by Sequentia, but with equalist rhythm and a calm, meditative quality. Gothic Voices' straightforward approach is less likely to send you into a rapturous trance than is Sequentia's, but in the hands of such fine singers as Kirkby, Margaret Philpot, and Emily van Evera, Hildegard's extraordinary texts and melodies are captivating--and clear enough to linger in the memory as melodies rather than just sensations. This record is still Hyperion's bestselling title by far--try it and find out why. --Matthew Westphal
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 5.0 / 5.0
Prayer guides:
Though short of encompassing rapture for me, these bare-boned choral ruminations on divinity provide ace background to indulge in existential introspections.
Beautiful and Soothing:
This CD is so blissful it makes all your worries disappear, if but for a wee while. I played this to my 5 year old students to settle them after lunch, they totally zoned out or should I say zoned into it. It was bliss. Buy it and enjoy it.
Music of the Heart:
This is the perfection of music of the heart, and one's longing for proximity to God and God's will for the individual. There is no work to be done here, simply listening with the heart opens the doors to God love.
just phenomenal...:
Undoubtedly the best Hildegard recording I've ever heard. I have other Hildegard discs that get played once, but this has been my constant companion for 13 or 14 years. The best yet.
