Hildegard von Bingen: Canticles of Ecstasy

CD (total time 72:53)

Recorded June 1993 in the church of St. Pantaleon, Köln (D)

Released 1994 by Deutsche Harmonia Mundi / BMG Classics (05472773202) in co-production with WDR Köln

Booklet 39 pp.

 

Sequentia’s Hildegard von Bingen Project: Initially in collaboration with the West German Radio Cologne (WDR Köln) Sequentia made a series of recordings of the complete works of Germany’s most important medieval composer, the abbess and visionary Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179).

After a break in the project of 10 years, this CD of Hildegard’s symphoniae to Maria, the Spirit, and the Ecclesiastical Community coincided with the worldwide interest in ‘Chant’ and spiritual song. Bagby and Thornton were joined by 7 female vocalists (including the magnificent vocalists Lena Susanne Norin and Laurie Monahan) and fiddlers Elizabeth Gaver (a new core member of the ensemble) and Elisabetta de Mircovich. This CD was awarded an Edison Prize, a French ‘Disque d’Or’, and received Grammy nomination as best choral recording of 1993. Over 500.000 copies were sold worldwide, and its success spawned a large number of imitations. Thanks to this phenomenon, Sequentia signed a multi-CD contract with BMG Classics – including the complete works of Hildegard – and was to remain furiously busy with recording over the next five years.