An excellent disc from
Telarc, featuring the mediaeval and
contemporary music specialist group,
Tapestry. The disc focuses on the great
visionary and mystic poet and composer,
Hildegard von Bingen. It aims to present
her and her works in context – hence
we are here presented with several songs
from her Symphonia armonie celestium
revelationum, whose monody is interspersed,
and thus contrasted, with thirteenth
century works of French-style polyphony,
and a cycle of motets using words by
Bingen by the contemporary composer
Robert Kyr. The theme is light – Bingen’s
visions often took the form of heavenly
light that imparted its divine inspiration
to her, and that she considered, and
wrote of, as almost a spiritual force
in and of itself. As Bingen had no formal
training in music or poetry, her work
is delightfully free from the constraints
that bound most composers and writers.
Her poetry is rich in imagery, and her
music focuses heavily on the words,
as a vessel to express them, taking
its rhythms from them rather than from
a fixed beat.
The disc opens with
O lucidissima, a gorgeously other-worldly
responsory by Bingen, luminous, with
effortlessly floating voicelines. Clarity,
intensity and intelligence shine through
the music and enable the listener to
agree with Bingen’s own conviction that
her inspiration was divinely derived.
This is followed by the beautiful and
lilting Novi sideris Lumen respenduit.
The next thirteenth century Notre
Dame responsory Deus misertus hominis
is extremely impressive - really
haunting, with dissonances that almost
make one’s hair stand on end, and enters
a sound-world curiously similar to Tavener
or Arvo Part. This is followed by the
almost disconcertingly high O tu
illustrate (it spans two and half
octaves) – the later Nunc gaudeant
is similarly high, demonstrating the
incredible range in pitch that Bingen
employs. Soprano Cristi Catt copes extremely
well with these upper notes, although
her voice, already a little more robust
and harsher in timbre than her colleagues’,
becomes slightly rougher still with
these challenging notes.
Three tracks of the
disc are given over to From the
Circling Wheel, Kyr’s cycle of motets
about creation. The first presents the
words of God the creator as a turning
wheel, and has the same verse repeated
several times, the music growing in
complexity and dissonance. The second
portrays Mary addressing her son on
the cross, and the final piece is a
hymn to Mary, whose sacrifice is viewed
as a creative force. Although this work
is not in the least offensive per
se, it did slightly detract from
the enjoyment of the disc for me. It
is too much of a contrast, too much
of a jump in time from the beautiful
purity of the older works.
On the whole, however,
this is a fascinating, well-compiled
and well-performed disc. Tapestry work
well as an ensemble – their voices vigorous
and clear, yet sweet in tone in the
ensemble numbers. One of the main messages
that the performers impart to the listener
is that of sincerity, in the words,
the music and the music-making – something
of which Bingen would, I’m sure, approve.
Em Marshall
Laurie Monahan (mezzo); Cristi Catt (soprano);
Sandra Morales-Ramirez (mezzo); Daniela
Tosic (alto); Robert Kyr (hurdy-gurdy)
