She wrote liturgical plainchant honoring the saints & the Virgin Mary for the Roman Catholic holidays. Emily Van Evera & Sister Germanine Fritz sing Hildegard's songs with tasteful modern production from the masterful musical arrangements of Richard Souther. Together they intermix the ancient words & rhythm of Hildegard Von Bingen with modern electronic instrumentation & style. Cleverly not losing either "Time Period" producing a CD that can be played over & over. If you become tired of this semi-new age music, leave the CD alone for a while, & return a few months later for added enjoyment. If you have a good stereo, this CD will offer a vast timber with lots of background sound effects. The best I can write is that the music is very spiritually uplifting.


Fascinating modern adaptation of Hildegard   October 22, 2005
 8 out of 8 found this review helpful

I found the below review from the UK amazon site extremely helpful.

"Hildegard's music can be performed in many different ways. There's the 'purist' approach, that seeks to use top-class vocalists such as Emma Kirkby ('Gothic Voices') - who isn't on this album - in arrangements that come as close to the original as possible. The problem is, we simply don't know how the music really sounded when Hildegard wrote it. If you're a specialist, you'll already know why that is. But if you're not, it's all to do with the problems of interpreting the original manuscripts, and guesswork about what instrumentation Hildegard may have used. And we don't know how good Hildegard's nuns were at singing. The chances that any of them came close to technical virtuosi like Kirkby are pretty small.

One thing's for sure, though. Saint Hildegard - one of the most amazing and interesting women in recorded history - didn't have a bank of synthesisers, bass guitar samples, and sequencing machines back in the twelfth century. But, if they had been available to her, I think she would probably have made good use of them. She wrote books on science, sexuality, animals, healing, indeed all manner of things, as well as religious works, paintings, a secret language, songs, plays and letters to Emperors and Popes. Would such a woman say "No electricity in my convents, thank you very much"? I don't think so. She might well have seen the opportunity to use such facilities to discuss and glorify God and the universe.

For that reason, I think this recording is not really any less 'authentic' than the supposedly purer ones. The modernised arrangemnets here are hardly "Heavy Metal Madness, featuring the Nuns of Bingen"; the synths etc complement the vocals very delicately and effectively indeed.

I wouldn't say this is the *only* way to record Hildegard's music, for that would be very foolish. But it makes it very accessible to a modern audience, and I think it adds a new dimension to her work. If you don't have any other Hildegard works, I'd say start with this one, because it's very pleasant to listen to and it's likely to make you want to hear - and read - a lot more. If you know the 'purer' versions, I'd still say listen to it, because it's a different perspective on the material. And Hildegard herself often approached the same subject from various angles"
CHISLEHURST


Possibly not quite what Hildegard had in mind...   January 1, 1999
 7 out of 8 found this review helpful

Hildegard was a 10th century abbess and songwriter, which explains why the majority of her songs are meant to be sung by women. I began my Hildegard journey with Sequentia's "Ancient Music for a Modern Age" (which I *highly* recommend) and feel that to be a superior album. The modern feel that Souther attempted to give to this album sometimes detracts from the beautiful music written by Hildegard. However, there are also some gems on this cd, and I feel it makes a good "beginners" album. For other Hildegard fans, I recommend Sequentia's work highly.


Passionate on so many different levels   October 16, 1999
 6 out of 7 found this review helpful

The writings of Hildegard von Bingen are brought to life and into the modern era on this CD. My hat is off to Richard Souther for his work in keeping the words and music of this wonderful and misunderstood composer alive. I have given this CD to many friends as a gift, and would suggest it to anyone with a passion for music


SUPERB MODERN CLASSIC   October 26, 2005
 6 out of 6 found this review helpful

SOARING, ETHEREAL voices are followed by haunting, vaguely Middle Eastern new age sound. HILDEGARD meets ENIGMA. It works. The purists make no room for this kind of interpretation of Hildegard but I remind you that the Louvre built a separate museum to house the Impressionist art not because they were so valued but because they did not consider it serious art and would not put it under the same roof with the classics. Time made buffoons of them. Listen to the sound clips and judge for yourself.