Hildegard von Bingen

Saints - Hildegard von Bingen
Sequentia
DHM Double CD, 106 minutes

The history of sacred music in Europe is a long and distinguished one, beginning with a form of chanting that grew out of church liturgy quite early in the Christian era, and was standardised as Gregorian plainsong or plainchant in the 7th and 8th centuries.
This became the normal musical form throughout the Western church for many hundreds of years, and was one way by which church practice was standardised under Roman control. However, a number of other types of chant persisted for a time, although they are usually seen as being outside the mainstream evolution of Western music, and thus largely ignored.
One such chant was composed by Hildegard von Bingen (b.1098); indeed her style is unique, and although bearing a basic resemblance to Gregorian chant, possesses a range of melodic expression and vocal breadth which seems, in comparison with the Gregorian variety, almost ahead of its time.
Hildegard von Bingen was born in what is now south-western Germany, and was dedicated to the church from an early age. She became a renowned poet, composer and mystic at a time when monasticism was the norm for anyone wanting to demonstrate their dedication to Christ and the church. Her works performed on this double CD are mainly fairly short pieces, in Latin (translation provided in the notes) whose texts are poems dedicated to a number of saints as well as to God, and also some settings of psalms. Like plainchant, they consist of a single, mainly unaccompanied vocal line, sung either by a soloist or a group of male or female voices. There are also a few instrumental pieces.
The impression received is that the music is undoubtedly of an intensely spiritual nature, and one cannot help but admire the beauty of the writing, which compares favourably with plainchant in terms of variety and interest. There is a vibrant, almost ecstatic quality, which is certainly very different from the restrained syllabic nature of most plainchant.
I found this music very interesting and agreeable, although I felt a little uncomfortable with so much 'saint-based' material; but the psalm settings are excellent listening if you like this kind of music, and the vocal performances are absolutely flawless. For fans of early music, this would be a welcome and rather unusual addition to their collections - something a little different!

CD review

Simon Brennan