#4266: Modern Versions of Early and Medieval Music

Listen to works from the Medieval and Renaissance eras transformed into sweeping vistas of electronic sounds. Hear the hugely influential music of Hildegard von Bingen, as well as music by composers who have reworked Hildegard like Bora Yoon and Alejandro Viñao. Also, listen to music based on compositions by other figures in early music like Machaut and Dufay.

Hear an unadorned work by Hildegard von Bingen, along with an arrangement of her music from Italian nyckelharpa virtuoso Marco Ambrosini and the group Ensemble Supersonus. Their take on Hildegard von Bingen combines overtone singing, Swedish folk music, and Ottoman court music. Also, Korean-Amercian Bora Yoon arranges Hildegarde von Bingen’s 12^th Century melody, “O viridissima virga,” into her ominous and disorienting electronic sound-world. There’s also several layers of Maya Beiser’s cello in more music by Hildegard, in an arrangement of “O Virtus Sapientae.”

Then, hear music by the 14^th century French composer-poet Guillaume de Machaut arranged for three violas by the Swiss composer Heinz Holliger. There’s also music by 15^th century composer Guillaume Dufay as treated by English composer Ambrose Field, where Field takes recordings of tenor John Potter singing Dufay’s songs as source material and electronically alters them into layered soundscapes. Plus, listen to a work based on music by Hildegard by Argentinian-born, British composer Alejandro Viñao for soprano and computer. And more. - Caryn Havlik

ARTIST: Gothic Voices
WORK: Hildegard: O viridissima virga [1:30]
RECORDING: Hildegard of Bingen: A Feather on the Breath of God
SOURCE: Hyperion #66039
INFO: Available at Amazon.com

ARTIST: Marco Ambrosini & Supersonus
WORK: Hildegard von Bingen: O Antiqui Sancti 
RECORDING: Resonances
SOURCE: ECM Records 2497
INFO: https://ecm.lnk.to/Resonances

ARTIST: Maya Beiser
WORK: Hildegard von Bingen: O Virtus Sapientae [3:46]
RECORDING: Tranceclassical
SOURCE: Innova 952
INFO: innova.mu

ARTIST: Genevieve Strosser, Juerg Daehler, Muriel Cantoreggi, violas
WORK: Heinz Holliger after Machaut - Ballade IV for 3 violas [4:26]
RECORDING: Heinz Holliger: Machaut-Transkriptionen
SOURCE: ECM 2224
INFO: ecmrecords.com

ARTIST: Ambrose Field, feat. John Potter
WORK: Dufay: Ma belle dame souveraine [5:22]
RECORDING: Being Dufay
SOURCE: ECM 2071 
INFO: ecmrecords.com

ARTIST: Gothic Voices
WORK: Hildegard” O viridissima virga [3:09]
RECORDING: Hildegard of Bingen: A Feather on the Breath of God
SOURCE: Hyperion #66039
INFO: Available at Amazon.com

ARTIST: Bora Yoon
WORK: O viridissima virga [10:25]
RECORDING: Sunken Cathedral
SOURCE: Innova 880
INFO: innova.mu

ARTIST: Ambrose Field, feat. John Potter
WORK: Dufay: Je Vous Pri [7:47]
RECORDING: Being Dufay
SOURCE: ECM 2071 
INFO: ecmrecords.com

ARTIST: Alejandro Viñao / Frances Lynch
WORK: Alejandro Vinao: Hildegard's Dream, for soprano & computer [6:58]
RECORDING: Hildegard's Dream
SOURCE: INA_C 1015
INFO: vinao.com