Back in the '90s, Hildegard was hot -- you could almost put out anything with her name on it and it would sell. No doubt this is what Naxos had in mind when it commissioned Hildegard von Bingen: Heavenly Revelations from Jeremy Summerly's Oxford Camerata in 1993. This disc is interesting in that it generally avoids obvious Hildegard "hits" such as Caritas abundant and O ecclesia occuli tui, although Oxford Camerata proves unable to resist her biggest hit, O viridissima virga. It includes the "Procession" from Ordo Virtutum, ...
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Back in the '90s, Hildegard was hot -- you could almost put out anything with her name on it and it would sell. No doubt this is what Naxos had in mind when it commissioned Hildegard von Bingen: Heavenly Revelations from Jeremy Summerly's Oxford Camerata in 1993. This disc is interesting in that it generally avoids obvious Hildegard "hits" such as Caritas abundant and O ecclesia occuli tui, although Oxford Camerata proves unable to resist her biggest hit, O viridissima virga. It includes the "Procession" from Ordo Virtutum, a response O Euchari, in leta via, two sequences, three hymns, and four antiphons. Hildegard von Bingen: Heavenly Revelations also features some of her pieces as sung by men in addition to women, which may not please the Hildegard fans who identify with her as the medieval embodiment of feminine empowerment. At least musically, however, it seems to work, and of the Hildegard selections represented here the antiphon Alleluia -- o virga mediatrix is particularly nicely done. There is...
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