#3990: Works for Voice and Drone

Hear music for voice soaring over a drone in works by Hildegard of Bingen, Sir John Tavener, & ancient music of Scandinavia, as performed by members of Ensemble Mare Balticum. 

Listen to ancient music of Scandinavia from Sweden’s Ensemble Mare Balticum, part of the European Music Archaeology Project (EMAP.) It's from a record winningly titled "ICE and LONGBOATS," Volume 2 of a 5-part series of recordings where EMAP has imagined the instruments Vikings played and the voices they sang with - specifically from the early centuries of Christianity in Scandinavia.

There's music by German composer, abbess, writer, & mystic, Hildegard of Bingen, for voice and hurdy-gurdy, performed by Sequentia. Then, listen to a work by contemporary British composer Brian Elias for soprano and hurdy-gurdy, based on the Song of Songs. Also, hear music from Armenia in a work from the Haissmavourk Choir, along with a work by the late English composer & mystic, Sir John Tavener from the Louth Contemporary Music Society.

Then, hear music from the North Indian classical tradition involving the drone instrument, the tanpura (or tambura, tanpuri) which accompanies raga singing. From July of 2000, listen to an exclusive in-studio performance by F. Wasifuddin Dagar – the alap section (an improvisation section, a prologue of sorts, before the drums begin) of Raga Chaundrakauns. All that, and more. 

PROGRAM  #3990, voice and drone (First Aired: 6/06/2017)  

ARTIST: Sequentia
WORK: Hildegard : O presul vere civitatis (sequence fol. 475v) [8:47]
RECORDING: Music For Paradise: The Best Of Hildegard Von Bingen
SOURCE: Deutsche Harmonia Mundi 798305
INFO: Available at Arkiv Music

ARTIST: Red Byrd
WORK: Brian Elias: Song, excerpt [4:48]
RECORDING: Songs of Love and Death
SOURCE: Facd 336 Out of print. 
INFO: Info at www.cerysmaticfactory.info

ARTIST: Ensemble Mare Balticum
WORK: Lux Illuxit [5:52] 
RECORDING: ICE and LONGBOATS: Ancient Music of Scandinavia
SOURCE: Delphian DCD 34181
INFO: Available via Amazon.com or prestoclassical.co.uk

ARTIST: Faiyaz Wasifuddin Dagar
WORK: Raga Chaundrakauns, alap [7:12] 
RECORDING: NS live 7/24/00
SOURCE/INFO: This performance not commercially available.

ARTIST: Louth Contemporary Music Society
WORK: Sir John Tavener: Samaveda [13:05]
RECORDING: Path
SOURCE: Louth Contemporary Music Society 1001
INFO: louthcms.org

ARTIST: The Haissmavourk Choir
WORK: Sirt im sasani (My heart is trembling) [4:38] 
RECORDING: The Music of Armenia, Vol. 1 : Sacred Choral Music
SOURCE: Celestial Harmonies 13115
INFO: harmonies.com

ARTIST: Annea Lockwood/ Santa Monica High School Women’s Chorus
WORK: Malolo, Lullabye on a Samoan text [3:24] 
SOURCE/INFO: youtube.com

ARTIST: Shirley Collins
WORK: Edi Beo Thu Hevene Quene [3:43]
RECORDING: Amaranth/Anthems in Eden Suite
SOURCE:  Beat Goes On BGOCD 442
INFO: Out of print. Try Amazon.com for Vinyl or CD