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| REVIEW | Great!!!
Amazing is the word for this record more than Gloryland. I have been touched by the lyrics and the voices. Coming from a different cultural background allows to understand very well the root information valid for everyone in the songs, hymns, etc they have selected for this record.
I will wait for the next record! |
Find the lowest prices for Gloryland. |
| REVIEW | Can't walk away from it!
My only "complaint" about the CD is that I absolutely HAVE to sit and listen to the entire thing whenever I start it up! I usually have music playing in the background while doing other things, but not this one! There are no tracks that I find myself wanting to skip over as in most collections. In fact, I usually find myself going back and listening to selected tracks again (and again and...) after taking the hour+ to listen to the whole thing through once.
These four ladies produce a unique and remarkable sound. I can't recommend it enough. |
Find the lowest prices for American Angels - Songs of Hope, Redemption, & Glory. |
| REVIEW | Great music; interesting group
The music of Hildegard Von Bingen is, without question, some of the most important we have from the Middle Ages. This album has a very capable set of performances by Anonymous 4, but the drawback is the very sameness of sound to each and every track. Yes, they sing well, but where is the variety of timbre? Where are the percussion instruments that have been used in other recordings and performances of these works? They could have used some help from some men's voices, too. Otherwise, it's perfectly recorded, but with repeat listenings becomes more trying. |
Find the lowest prices for The Origin of Fire - Music and Visions of Hildegard von Bingen. |
| REVIEW | Excellent Alternative to 'Good Saint Nick'.
'Legends of St. Nicholas' and 'A Star in the East' are both collections of medieval Christmas music. Both are based heavily on Latin chants. The first has some old English lyrics and the second is based on both original Hungarian material and material imported into Hungary from Greece and other centers of Eastern Christianity.
If you are considering one or the other, I find the 'Legends of St. Nicholas' to be the more diverse of the two, as it has chant, polyphony, and even some solo voices. The Hungarian selection seems just a bit too much like all the other material done by Anonymous 4.
To be sure, both are done with a typically exceptional high quality voice and recording technique, so you will not go wrong with either recording.
Both are highly recommended! |
Find the lowest prices for Legends of St. Nicholas - Medieval Chant & Polyphony. |
| REVIEW | A little holy night's music
'On Yoolis Night' is a collection of motets, carols, hymns, antiphons and a few other pieces in honour of the nativity - this is a medieval Christmas album. During the Middle Ages, when Europe was swept with adoration of the Blessed Virgin Mary, many of the songs around Christmas would be as much around her character as with Jesus. These works deal with the various legends, biblical and extra-canonical, as well as the traditional stories of Christmastide, primarily taken from the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries. However, the earliest piece dates from the fifth century (A solis ortus cardine) to the polyphony of the fifteenth century, which means that this disc in fact contains a thousand years of history. Also included are a few anticipatory pieces from Advent, such as the Vox clara chant (the voice of him crying in the wilderness...).
These are beautiful pieces, stunning in performance and quite remarkable - compared to modern Christmas carols, these are pieces with depth and richness, certainly devoid of much of the mercantile and later accretions that have overlaid holiday seasons in the Western world.
This is definitely a holiday album with a difference.
-- Liner Notes --
This text accompaniment to this disc is very full, so much so that the booklet is not contained within the jewel case, but rather within a slipcover in which both the CD/jewel case and the booklet reside. The liner notes include a description of the work, a brief piece about the quartet, and the lyrics of the songs both in original language and in translation - all repeated in English, German, and French sections.
-- Anonymous 4 --
Contrary to the implication of their name, the Anonymous 4 are not anonymous. This is a vocal quartet made up of Ruth Cunningham, Marsha Genensky, Susan Hellauer, and Johanna Rose at the time of this recording (Ruth Cunningham will later go on to a solo career early, and another member will join - Jacqueline Horner). They came together as a formal group in 1986, and have been ensemble-in-residence at St. Michael's Church in New York City, giving concert series in New York as well as throughout North America. They have been featured a number of times on national media in North America as well as Germany. They then went on to yet more success, eventually performing more that 1000 concerts worldwide.
Their specialty is working with chant, monophonic and polyphonic music, and working with medieval texts. According to one source, 'The group takes its name from an anonymous music theorist of the late 13th century, Anonymous IV, who is the principal source on the two famous composers of the Notre Dame school, Léonin and Pérotin.'
The group ended a touring career of nearly two decades in 2004.
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Find the lowest prices for On Yoolis Night - Medieval carols & motets. |
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