Columba aspexit

On this CD:

1. Geode, for flute, clarinet, cello, percussion & piano Spiky
Composed by Cindy Annice Cox

2. Geode, for flute, clarinet, cello, percussion & piano Sparkling
Composed by Cindy Annice Cox

3. Geode, for flute, clarinet, cello, percussion & piano Fast
Composed by Cindy Annice Cox

4. Columba aspexit, for string quartet (after Hildegard von Bingen)
Composed by Cindy Annice Cox

5. Primary Colors, for violin, clarinet & piano Fast, Swinging - Bold, Fun
Composed by Cindy Annice Cox
Performed by Karen Bentley, Karen Rosenak

6. Primary Colors, for violin, clarinet & piano Delicate, Fragile
Composed by Cindy Annice Cox
Performed by Karen Bentley, Karen Rosenak

7. Primary Colors, for violin, clarinet & piano Cheeky and Cheerful
Composed by Cindy Annice Cox
Performed by Karen Bentley, Karen Rosenak

8. Into the Wild, for amplified violin, soprano saxophone, Mallet-Kai, electric drums, electric guitar & keyboards
Composed by Cindy Annice Cox

Editorial Reviews
Album Description
These works by Cindy Cox take the listener on an experiential journey affecting the mind, spirit and body. The rite of passage begins with Geode (1996) for flute, clarinet, cello, percussion and piano, a piece of technical and formal prowess that carries the listener first into the presence of an object of mind, a geode—something to capture the attention for the experience to follow. Like crystals forming around a dirty speck of earth, the shimmering glockenspiel, the high winds, and piano tremolos dance about the binding cello of the second movement. Indicating its bright features and high registers, the score is marked “sparkling.” This movement, nearly twice as long as the outer two, provides the central fractal for the piece’s larger inflorescence, which is replicated in the work’s overall structure. Here, Cox balances the piece’s formality with a demonstration of her facility to modulate complex patterns of melody, pitch, timbre and resonance, through a loom work of breathtaking technique. As the cello’s shuttle gathers speed, the other instruments slow, their sparkling lyrici! sm caught in the warp and weft of a series of darker waves. As intimated, the outer movements frame the inner with sharp contrasts and share many formal parallels with each other. The first movement begins whimsically, full of irony, reminiscent of Klee or perhaps the more menacing Miro. The short, syncopated upward gestures are led by the bass clarinet. The cello joins in with pizzicato but ultimately leads the voices into a series of fractured and asymmetrical gestures that take all of them into the clarifying middle movement. The last movement is a palindrome of the first. Somehow the first movement’s gags are inverted as well. The jokes aren’t as funny having passed through the center of things. But they do shine. Ultimately, the journey is an inward descent that we might bring back that crystalline jewel through a recollection of our lost dream time. Finally, both the conscious and the unconscious minds are necessary and necessarily symbiotic in the attentive mind now called to attention. Columba aspexit (1995) for string quartet is based upon a chant by Hildegard von Bingen, a twelfth-century abbess, who transmuted the hallucinatory visions of her childhood into an art of gnosis, mysticism and spirituality. Her oracular painting, music and writing became so renowned for wisdom that popes and kings across medieval Europe sought her counsel. She dictated her visions and prophecies in a large volume called the Symphonia armonie celestium relationum (Symphony of the Celestial Harmonies). Among the collection’s fourteen chants, “Columba aspexit” presents a fantastic and symbolic vision of Saint Maximinus as a celebrant at Mass. Roughly translated, the text opens:
Through the crosses
in the window,
the holy dove
gazed upon
a contemplative Maximinus,
anointing as with oils
his temples,
from whence spring
the jewel of purest heart
like the sun
burning its gloam. . . .

—from “Columba aspexit” by Hildegard von Bingen The music’s ecstatic and transcendent character is achieved through the combinatory effects of its tremendous range, references to the major mode, and the special work of a personal elegy. Cox captures the unique melodic material of each section and releases its breadth, scope, imagery and inward spirituality. Apropos of Maximinus in his devotion, the first movement opens meditatively, slow, still, with a high-pitched violin in a disjunct theme (not based upon the chant), which is marked “elegy” and dedicated to Elisabeth Terrell Cox-Hurst, the composer’s child who died at birth. Cox weaves this theme in and out, purifying it in the crucible of Hildegard’s hermetic chant. The pathos of the music rests in this deep collaboration, tragedy made numinous with understanding. The contrasting, active chant appears shortly after, and is elaborated and treated in canon (a kind of strict imitation between members of the quartet).

Tracks:

Sequentia de Sancto Maximo: Columba aspexit
Ymnus de Sancta Maria: Ave, generosa
Sequentia de Spiritu Sancto: O ignis spiritus
De Sancto Ruperto: O ierusalem
De sancto Euchario sequentia: O Euchari
De Sancta Maria: O viridissima virga
Sequentia de Sancto Dysibodo: O presul vere civitatis
De Undecim Milibus Virginbus: O Ecclesia

Amazon.com essential recording

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:

Hyponotic music from an early great composer.......2007-03-10

The Abbess Hildegard of Bingen wrote hypnotic, haunting music a thousand years ago (she lived from 1098-1179). The notes from this CD state that: "This recording draws upon Hildegard's large collection of music and poetry. . .which she continued to enlarge and enrich throughout her life. It contains some of the finest songs ever written in the Middle Ages. . . . The songs are conceived on a large--sometimes a massive--scale; it is in superabundance that Hildegard found herself both as poetess and composer." Hers is a very different style of music from what we are used to today. And the voices of Emma Kirkby and "Gothic Voices" (a group) appear to capture the spirit and soul of this music well.

Kirkby has a crystalline clear and clean voice. In "Columba aspexit," Kirkby and supporting voices paint a musical tapestry that is hypnotic (a common phrase that can be used across the songs). In "Ave, generosa," Kirkby sings the hymn solo and without any instrumental backing. An enchanting piece. Three tenors from "A Gothic Voice" essay "O ignis spiritus." Their voices meld together well and their take on this has a spiritual element. A final example (no need to mention each of the cuts on the CD). . . . "O Jerusalem" features both Kirkby and some members of "A Gothic Voice." The voices play off one another well. Another nicely done work.

This is a good introduction to ancient but interesting music. Kirkby once again shows her skills off to good effect, with an assist from "A Gothic Voice."

One of my favorite albums of all time........2007-03-06

This is the best Hildegard von Bingen recording I have heard. It features the marvelous English soprano, Emma Kirkby.

This is an older recording. I first bought the album on vinyl. I bought it again on CD. Now it is in heavy rotation on my ipod. This is simply one of the best pieces of vocal music ever recorded, any age, any genre.

Enjoy.

Luminous.......2006-11-27

Landmark recording of the early Kirkby glorying in this beautiful music. Ears that can do East and West may like to sample 'Shruti' by Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay - a similarly evocative and remarkable recording.

Heavenly.......2006-11-15

This CD is a Masterpiece. I often play this before I go to sleep. If you want a CD that will totally relax you and clear your sole then you can't go past this great piece of work. The music and voices are Heavenly. I really admire Hildgard and her work. She was very ahead of her time. I very highly recommend this CD to anyone who loves beauty.

Short, but still the very best of Hildegard of Bingen. Buy It........2005-12-20

'A feather on the breath of God' is a performance of eight 'Sequences and Hymns' by Abbess Hildegard of Bingen' which has been lauded by Gramophone Magazine as a 'Best of' in the year it was released.

I have heard two other performances of Hildegard of Bingen compositions and to my amateur ear, these are the best. With soloist Emma Kirkby plus the instrumental backup, they are certainly more interesting than the a capella treatment by the Anononymous 4.

Very highly recommended.

Average customer rating:

Interesting music interestingly sung
The marriage of skill and magic
There is no such thing as too much Emma Kirkby
emma's pure and magical voice.
Voice of an Angel!

The Emma Kirkby Collection
Claudio Monteverdi , George Frideric Handel , Johann Sebastian Bach , Sigismondo D'India , John Dowland , Guillaume de Machaut , Hildegard of Bingen , Thomas Campion , Henry Lawes , Henry Purcell , Michael East , The Consort of Musicke , Taverner Consort Players , Roy Goodman , Anthony Rooley , Emma Kirkby , Christopher Page , Denys Darlow , Andrew Parrott , Parley of Instruments , London Handel Orchestra , Gothic Voices , David Reichenberg , and Instrumental Ensemble
Manufacturer: Hyperion UK
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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William Byrd: Consort Songs

ASIN: B000002ZJG
Release Date: 1993-11-12

Tracks:

Confiterbor tibi, Domine (Psalm 110)
Now Hath Flora Robbed Her Bowers
Stript Of Their Green Our groves Appear
Voglio di vita uscir
Piangono al pianger mio
Flow Not So Fast, Ye Fountains
Foy Porter
Columba aspexit
Sheep May Safely Graze
Time Stands Still
Diana
Quel squardo sdegnosetto
Maledetto sia l'aspetto
The Lark
Move Now With Measured Sound
Sharp Thorns Despising
Sich tiben im Lieben
You Meaner Beauties Of The Night

Customer Reviews:

Interesting music interestingly sung.......2007-02-01

Much of this vocal music is from an era with which I am unfamiliar. It ranges from the work of Hildegarde of Bergen (1098-1179) to Handel (1685-1759); obviously, this album covers much territory! Emma Kirkby displays her virtuosity on this CD. The notes from the CD say that "One of the favorite adjectives used by critics. . .is the word 'celestial.'" At a later point, the notes speak of Kirkby further: "There is a freshness, an openness, an honesty about her voice. . ."

Some comments on works randomly selected.

Monteverdi's "Confitebor tibi, Domine." Here, Kirkby displays a clean light voice. She exhibits a spirited "Gloria Patri" with some spare but interesting ornamentation.

Campion's "Now hath Flora robbed her bowers." This cut shows off to good effect the agility in her voice.

John Dowland, "Flow not so fast, ye fountains." Here is displayed her smooth voice; her singing flows smoothly from one note to the next. There is a poignancy in her singing on this piece.

Guillaume de Machaut, "Foy porter." She treats the redoubtable de Machaut well; his works are some of the best of his time. This is smoothly song and does his work justice.

Hildegarde of Birgen, "Columba aspexit." This is the oldest composition on this CD by far. The work is spare, but well sung. There is a hypnotic quality to the work and Kirkby sings it well.

Lawes, "The Lark." Again, nice agility of her voice is displayed.

Other compositions on this CD are by Purcell, J. S. Bach, Sigismondo d'India, and Handel.

All in all, a nice sampling of the work of Emma Kirkby. I was not much familiar with her work before listening to this CD, but I am delighted that I did purchase this work.

The marriage of skill and magic.......2007-01-12

Ms. Kirby's voice is limpid, exquisitely pitched, strong, and yet beautifully refined. Her command of her voice is extraordinary, with phrasing, delicate embellishments and what I think are some vocal cadenzas, all showing the skill and craft of an artist who has brought her artistry to its highest state. But she makes her artistry sound so easy, so natural: nothing of bravura, nothing forced here. The selections are wonderfully chosen; together, they give us the whole range of early to late Baroque, in every mood. Each listening refreshes the spirit. What an artist!

There is no such thing as too much Emma Kirkby.......2002-07-16

The only defect in this disk is that it isn't a three or four disk set. Some people don't appreciate her beautiful voice and I feel sorry for them. I first heard her voice live in a concert here in Ann Arbor in December of 1980 and she stunned me. The memory of her beautiful voice still lives in my mind and heart.

Well, this disk gives us 18 selections from a number of different composers from the Baroque. Every one of them is a treasure and has its own charms. I can't pick a favorite, but I can say that each of these pieces show off her voice and singing style in different ways.

Yes, I wish she had included more Purcell and something even nicer than what we have on track 3, but what would I give up? Well, that is where I say we need this to have been a two or three disk collection.

You won't go wrong with this wonderful disk!

emma's pure and magical voice........2000-10-16

This cd shows Emma's versatility as a Baroque and early music performer. Her pure voice matches the music so well. I really enjoy the song "You meaner beauties of the night." This is only one among many cd's which shows Emma's great voice. I highly recommend the Emma Kirkby collection.

Voice of an Angel!.......1999-07-20

One of the most beautiful angelic voice in the world! But I don't think this collection shows her best recording pieces.

The Complete Hildegard von Bingen, Volume Three: O Nobilissima Viriditas

Average customer rating:

The Complete Hildegard von Bingen, Volume Three: O Nobilissima Viriditas

Manufacturer: Celestial Harmonies
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Hildegard von Bingen: Canticles of Ecstasy
Feather on the Breath of God
Hildegard von Bingen: Voice of the Blood

ASIN: B00005YFTT
Release Date: 2004-03-30

Tracks:

O Beata Infantia
Columba Aspexit
O Nobilissima Viriditas
O Cohors Milicie Floris Virge
O Viridissima Virga Ave
Hodie Aperuit Nobis
O Euchari
O Successores Fortissimi Leonis
O Successores (Instrumental)
O Bonifaci
O Speculum Columbe
O Presul Vere Civitatis
O Mirum Admirandum
O Vos Felices Radices
Mathias Sanctus Per Electionem

Album Description

O nobilissima viriditas is the third volume of The Complete Hildegard von Bingen, following Symphony of the Harmony of Celestial Revelations and Aurora, released in 1996 and 1999 respectively.

Hildegard von Bingen was born in 1098 as the tenth and last child of a noble family. In 1106 at age eight she was entrusted to Jutta of Spondheim's convent which was attached to the Benedictine monastery of Disibodenberg on the mountain of St. Disibod. After Jutta's death in 1136, Hildegard became abbess and she subsequently established her own convent on the Rupertsberg near Bingen in the late 1140s.

Although she had had visions since childhood, it was only after 1141, following a divine call, that she dedicated herself to document her visions in the book Scivias. During her mature life she produced a prolific and varied range of writings, including two more books of visions, and she continued to compose the music and the poetry of her songs.

At a time when few women were accorded respect, she lived to become a highly respected writer, poet, composer and visionary, much sought-after for her counsel by popes, regents and bishops.

Viriditas was to inspire some of Hildegard's most imaginative and passionate song poetry and music. Her lyrics are all in Latin and they abound with images from nature, using leaves, branches and flowers to communicate overlapping themes of energy, vigour, blooming, manhood, virginity and virtue.

Customer Reviews:

anybody out there?.......2007-04-02

i can't believe nobody else has reviewed this great recording! choral music by abbess hildegard of bingen (1098-1179) performed by a collective calling themselves "gothic voices." what an incredible recording of choral work. the medieval age of sound is brought back to vivid life by these wonderful singers. this is completely mesmerizing stuff. i give it my highest recommendations to one and all. truly a desert island disc of choral beauty and perfection.

Average customer rating:

If you like Anonymous 4 you'll love Tapestry!

Sapphire Night
Hildegard Von Bingen , Tapestry , and Patricia Van Ness
Manufacturer: MD&G Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Angeli: Music of Angels
Tapestry: Fourth River: Millennium Revealed
Tapestry: Song of Songs Come into My Garden
Celestial Light: Music Of Hildegard von Bingen & Robert Kyr
Tranceformers: Shamans of the 21st Century

ASIN: B00011UZZI
Release Date: 2004-01-20

Tracks:

Hildegard von Bingen: O Frondens Virga
Hildegard von Bingen: Karitas Habundant
Patricia Van Ness: The Nine Orders of the Angels - Nos sumus Custodes Angeli
Patricia Van Ness: The Nine Orders of the Angels - Archangelus
Patricia Van Ness: The Nine Orders of the Angels - Sum Anael ex Septimi Chori
Patricia Van Ness: The Nine Orders of the Angels - Angeli Potestatis
Patricia Van Ness: The Nine Orders of the Angels - Raphael sum Virtutum
Patricia Van Ness: The Nine Orders of the Angel - Dominationes
Patricia Van Ness: The Nine Orders of the Angels - Angelus sum Thronorum
Patricia Van Ness: The Nine Orders of the Angels - Angeli ab lacrimis Michaelis
Patricia Van Ness: The Nine Orders of the Angels - Michael sum Seraphim
Hildegard von Bingen: O Euchari, Columba / In Matutinis Laudibus
Hildegard von Bingen: Studium Divinitatis
Hildegard von Bingen: Unde Quocumque
Hildegard von Bingen: De Patria
Hildegard von Bingen: Et Ideo Puelle
Hildegard von Bingen: Columba Aspexit
Anonymous: O Gloriosa

Customer Reviews:

If you like Anonymous 4 you'll love Tapestry!.......2004-01-27

This amazing collection of vocal music by the Boston based vocal group from Boston. They perform music by Hildegard von Bingen as well as music written in the Hildegard style by modern composer Patricia Van Ness. This collection is well sung and perfectly suited to listening to during these stressed out times. This is now a permanent addition to my CD player.

Average customer rating:

another essential Hildegard discs
Wonderful music to meditate by.

Hildegard von Bingen: Saints

Manufacturer: RCA
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Feather on the Breath of God

ASIN: B000009TJZ
Release Date: 1998-08-11

Tracks:

To God The Father: O magne pater
To Saint Boniface: O Bonifaci
To Saint Disibodus: O mirum admirandum - Domini est terra
To Saint Disibodus: Instrumental Piece
To Saint Disibodus: O viriditas digiti dei
To Saint Disibodus: O beata infantia - Domine, Dominus noster
To Saint Disibodus: O felix anima
To Saint Disibodus: Instrumental Piece
To Saint Disibodus: O presul vere civitatis

Tracks:

To Saint Maximinus: Columba aspexit
To Saint Maximinus: Instrumental Piece
To Saint Ursula: O Ecclesia
To Saint Ursula: Spiritui sancto
To Saint Matthew: Mathias, sanctus per electionem
To The Holy Widows: O pater omnium
To Saint Eucharius: O Euchari, columba virtutem illius
To Saint Eucharius: O Euchari, in leta via ambulasti

Amazon.com

This two-disc set completes Sequentia's ambitious project to record the complete musical works of Abbess Hildegard von Bingen to commemorate the 900th anniversary of her birth in 1098. In this last release, Sequentia finally takes on some of the most recognizable pieces from "A Feather on the Breath of God," the legendary recording by Gothic Voices that began the Hildegard boom 15 years ago. While you can't say that the older recording has been superseded, this one holds its own quite nicely. Where Gothic Voices took a no-nonsense approach to rhythm, making all notes more-or-less equal in length, Sequentia sings with its typical rhythmic freedom--without slipping into the rhapsodic excess that sometimes marred their earlier Hildegard discs; the momentum and shape of melody are always clear. Speaking of rhapsody, Sequentia's co-director Barbara Thornton opens the recording with a transporting rendition of a Hildegard hymn to "God the Father." --Matthew Westphal

Customer Reviews:

another essential Hildegard discs.......2002-02-20

My first introduction to Sequentia's versions of Hildegard was Canticles of Ecstacy, which still best defines musically, for me, the soaring visions and mysticism of Hildegard. Much of this sense is to be credited to the female voices of Sequentia, not only exceptional in quality but specifically not "sweet" or self-conscious or hovering toward modern, as in other ensembles (e.g., Gothic Voices or Anonymous 4). Beautiful as these latter voices are, one can take exception to the "angelic" label if one remembers that medievals saw angels as both terrifying and beatiful, and Sequentia evokes the awe and strength of angelic sounds like no one else (to my knowledge) recording Hildegard. Happily, the female voices in Saints are as soaring, challenging and beautiful as ever.

Though entirely correct historical scholarship, Saints has more male voices than female (separate, of course); the men's ensemble, called Sons of Thunder, is as strong and persuasive as any male performers of medieval vocal, and parallel the women's voices in removing any trace of self-consciousness. But while they are excellent, the male tones will be reminiscent of traditional Gregoran chant, of ecclesiastical music, not quite capturing the soaring mysticism of the female voices. Perhaps this is "built-in" to the two voices and their personalities. But I, for one, prefer the female voices, especially when Saints is meditative music for non-active listening.

Instrumental interludes, composed by a Sequentia member, are refreshingly authentic and quite welcome in the progress of the discs. They are carefully crafted to the sense of Hildegard's compositions and another reason why Sequentia's versions are unsurpassed.

Wonderful music to meditate by........1999-07-23

Mystical and etheral, this music has become my favorite during quiet meditation or contemplation. It seems to speak directly to that part of us which strives to transend the static of physical existence, and longs to know the infinite.

Average customer rating:

A soaring spirit
Crystal clear, unearthly melodies.

Voices of Angels

Manufacturer: Delos Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Hildegard von Bingen: Canticles of Ecstasy

ASIN: B000000713
Release Date: 1997-09-30

Tracks:

O virga ac diadema
O viridissima virga
Vos flores rosarum
O Ecclesia
Columba aspexit
Et Ideo
O Euchari columba
O Pastor animarum
O clarissima mater
Caritas Abundat
O presul vere civitatis
Ave, generosa
Unde Quocumque
O Ierusalem, aurea civitatis

Amazon.com

To the Hildegard canon we must enthusiastically add this first-class recording, an absorbing collection of chants that highlights the exceptional work of the legendary Abbess. Beginning with a lengthy solo hymn of praise to Mary, the program features some of Hildegard's most beautiful melodies and most compelling poetry. Included are hymns to the martyr St. Ursula, an eloquent tribute to the Holy Spirit, and a song about Eve, the "woman who brought sin to the world," contrasted with Mary, "the woman who brought healing." Performances by the women of the critically acclaimed Voices of Ascension choir are notable for their purity of tone, unity of phrasing and intonation, and sensitivity to even the most subtle inflection and dynamic shadings. --David Vernier

Customer Reviews:

A soaring spirit.......2005-10-22

The music on this CD comes from the great Hildegard of Bingen, one of the towering female figures from the Middle Ages. Hildegard is not only one of the few women whose name has come down to us from the Middle Ages, but one of the few composers of any sort whose name survives together with his or her compositions. Hildegard was a sort of Renaissance woman before the Renaissance, whose fame spread in her lifetime such that she was advisor of monarchs and popes, as well as a significant creative and mystical figure.

This recording was done to be released in 1998, the 900th birthday of Hildegard - that her music continues to be performed, and continues to inspire generations of listeners religious and not is a remarkable feat for any composer of any age.

The Voices of Ascension, under the direction of Dennis Keene, opted for this recording to feature only female voices. The soprano group includes Margery Daley, Michele Eaton, Eileen Clark Reisner, Ellen Taylor Sisson, Arlene Travis, and Alessandra Visconti. The alto group includes Margery Daley, Megan Friar, Denise Kelly, Alexandra Montano, Esther Mullens, Liz Norman, and Ellen Taylor Sisson. Montano, Eaton and Visconti are featured soloists on certain tracks, along with Kathy Theil.

The recording includes hymns to St. Ursula (one of the special subjects of devotion of Hildegard - look for the Anonymous 4 recording of the works in honour of St. Ursula), hymns to the Holy Spirit, and pieces for liturgical and office singing.

For this performance, the Voices of Ascension singers have kept embellishments to a minimum, singing things in a more pure style. The result is an absolutely stunning musical style full of clarity and possessing a soaring spirit.

The first edition of this disc comes with a die-cut card of the cover art, which features a modern icon of Hildegard from the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, as well as 28-page booklet with commentary, Latin texts and English translations, and biographies and pictures of the performers.

Crystal clear, unearthly melodies........1998-11-10

What lovliness! I am transported by the voices of these women to Hildegaard's abbey. The poetry of these chants should not be overlooked either. Read the liner notes and get the translations. They are gorgeous.

A Feather on the Breath of God [20th Anniversary Special Limited Edition]

Average customer rating:

Hyponotic music from an early great composer
One of my favorite albums of all time.
Luminous
Heavenly
Short, but still the very best of Hildegard of Bingen. Buy It.

A Feather on the Breath of God [20th Anniversary Special Limited Edition]

Manufacturer: Hyperion
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Sacred & Religious | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Hymns | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Oratorios | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
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Luminous Spirit
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Secrets of God: Writings of Hildegard of Bingen

ASIN: B00004XPJS
Release Date: 2000-10-10

Tracks:

Columbia Aspexit - Emma Kirkby
Ave, Generosa
O Ignis Spiritus
O Ierusalem - Emma Kirkby/Robert White
O Euchari
O Viridissima Virga
O Presul Vere Civitas
O Ecclesia

Amazon.com essential recording

Customer Reviews:

Hyponotic music from an early great composer.......2007-03-10

One of my favorite albums of all time........2007-03-06

Luminous.......2006-11-27

Heavenly.......2006-11-15

Short, but still the very best of Hildegard of Bingen. Buy It........2005-12-20

Average customer rating:

the voice of a angel

The Emma Kirkby Collection

Manufacturer: Hyperion
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Sacred & Religious | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Oratorios | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Cantatas | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Motets | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Oratorios | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Partsongs | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Virelais | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00004WMWA
Release Date: 2000-10-10

Tracks:

Confitebor Tibi, Domine
Now Hath Flora Robbed Her Bowers
Stript Of Their Green Our Groves Appear
Voglio Di Vita Uscir
Piangono Al Pianger Mio
Flow Not So Fast, Ye Fountains
Foy Porter
Columba Aspexit
Recitative And Aria 'Schafe Konnen Sicher Weiden'
Time Stands Still
Diana (Questo Dardo, Quest' Arco) - Emma Kirkby/Anthony Rooley
Quel Sguardo Sdegnosetto
Maledetto Sia L'aspetto
The Lark ('Swift Through The Yielding Air')
Move Now With Measured Sound
Sharp Thorns Despising
Recitative And Aria 'Sich Uben Im Lieben'
You Meaner Beauties Of The Night

Customer Reviews:

the voice of a angel.......2000-12-05

It's an fantastic CD. If you haven't know of Emma Kirkby's voice in your life, this is the best chance. I strongly believe you will listen to it again and again.

Columba Aspexit: Chamber Music of Cindy Cox

Average customer rating:

Columba Aspexit: Chamber Music of Cindy Cox

Manufacturer: Composers Recordings
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Classical | Indie Music | Stores | Music
ASIN: B000062SSK
Release Date: 2002-02-01

Tracks:

Spiky
Sparkling
Fast
Columba aspexit: after Hildegard von Bingen
Fast, SwingingBold, Fun
Delicate, Fragile
Cheeky and Cheerful
Into the Wild

Album Description

These works by Cindy Cox take the listener on an experiential journey affecting the mind, spirit and body. The rite of passage begins with Geode (1996) for flute, clarinet, cello, percussion and piano, a piece of technical and formal prowess that carries the listener first into the presence of an object of mind, a geode—something to capture the attention for the experience to follow. Like crystals forming around a dirty speck of earth, the shimmering glockenspiel, the high winds, and piano tremolos dance about the binding cello of the second movement. Indicating its bright features and high registers, the score is marked “sparkling.” This movement, nearly twice as long as the outer two, provides the central fractal for the piece's larger inflorescence, which is replicated in the work's overall structure. Here, Cox balances the piece's formality with a demonstration of her facility to modulate complex patterns of melody, pitch, timbre and resonance, through a loom work of breathtaking technique. As the cello's shuttle gathers speed, the other instruments slow, their sparkling lyrici! sm caught in the warp and weft of a series of darker waves. As intimated, the outer movements frame the inner with sharp contrasts and share many formal parallels with each other. The first movement begins whimsically, full of irony, reminiscent of Klee or perhaps the more menacing Miro. The short, syncopated upward gestures are led by the bass clarinet. The cello joins in with pizzicato but ultimately leads the voices into a series of fractured and asymmetrical gestures that take all of them into the clarifying middle movement. The last movement is a palindrome of the first. Somehow the first movement's gags are inverted as well. The jokes aren't as funny having passed through the center of things. But they do shine. Ultimately, the journey is an inward descent that we might bring back that crystalline jewel through a recollection of our lost dream time. Finally, both the conscious and the unconscious minds are necessary and necessarily symbiotic in the attentive mind now called to attention. Columba aspexit (1995) for string quartet is based upon a chant by Hildegard von Bingen, a twelfth-century abbess, who transmuted the hallucinatory visions of her childhood into an art of gnosis, mysticism and spirituality. Her oracular painting, music and writing became so renowned for wisdom that popes and kings across medieval Europe sought her counsel. She dictated her visions and prophecies in a large volume called the Symphonia armonie celestium relationum (Symphony of the Celestial Harmonies). Among the collection's fourteen chants, “Columba aspexit” presents a fantastic and symbolic vision of Saint Maximinus as a celebrant at Mass. Roughly translated, the text opens:
Through the crosses
in the window,
the holy dove
gazed upon
a contemplative Maximinus,
anointing as with oils
his temples,
from whence spring
the jewel of purest heart
like the sun
burning its gloam. . . .

—from “Columba aspexit” by Hildegard von Bingen The music's ecstatic and transcendent character is achieved through the combinatory effects of its tremendous range, references to the major mode, and the special work of a personal elegy. Cox captures the unique melodic material of each section and releases its breadth, scope, imagery and inward spirituality. Apropos of Maximinus in his devotion, the first movement opens meditatively, slow, still, with a high-pitched violin in a disjunct theme (not based upon the chant), which is marked “elegy” and dedicated to Elisabeth Terrell Cox-Hurst, the composer's child who died at birth. Cox weaves this theme in and out, purifying it in the crucible of Hildegard's hermetic chant. The pathos of the music rests in this deep collaboration, tragedy made numinous with understanding. The contrasting, active chant appears shortly after, and is elaborated and treated in canon (a kind of strict imitation between members of the quartet).

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