Ecce Homo

Medieval Minimalism:

It is almost impossible for us at this end of the second millennium to grasp the tremendous outpouring of creative talent that resulted in the buildings, art, poetry, and music of the beginning of the same millennium - but The Hilliard Ensemble do try to make it a little easier for us.

Perotin, called `Perotinus the Great' by one visiting Englishman of the time, is a perfect starting point for a journey back into that lost world - and into the acoustic pleasures of this fine music.

Based in plainchant - the singing of the Latin text in a flowing, one note at a time melody - Perotin's music frequently takes a small section of the text and adds extra notes - sometimes from two voices, sometimes from four.

In its simplest form, one note is like the `drone' of the bagpipe - held for a long time - and the other bounces along on top of it. (I'm reminded when I listen to this type of tune of a deep, slow, cool river flowing majestically along, whilst a red, armour-plated dragonfly zooms and bounces above it, hunting.)

There is a wonderful sense of fun in this - it is easy to imagine a group of choristers playing with the sound and trying to co-ordinate their `bounces' - a bit like putting together a sequence of passes on the football field.

Another aspect of Perotin, as shown in his Beata viscera (track 8), is a deep felt reverence for all things religious, especially the Virgin Mary. Irritatingly, the booklet doesn't provide any translations so it is easy to miss the absolute beauty of the text - but not the music. In a free flowing wave of sound, the words of the poem are hoisted to heaven - like watching a sky lark.

What the Hilliard Ensemble bring to all this is a strength, a certainty of sound and a purity of line that originates as much in their work on contemporary music as it does on older traditions. And this is what makes this CD stand out - it is as much about today as it is about 900 years ago.

As the booklet points out, Perotin has influenced the likes of Steve Reich.

If you like minimalism, you'll love this - Perotin, takes a simple idea and fills a vast space - in his case, Notre-Dame Cathedral.

Musical Splendour

Notre-Dame was at the heart of the Western 12th century cultural explosion - and this CD attempts to capture something of that dynamic, Gothic-cathedral-building splendour.

Starting with a simple, solo-voiced (monophonic), quite beautiful hymn to the Blessed Flesh of the Virgin Mary the programme moves through increasingly complicated, two then four part arrangements of music that would have been performed in Paris as the first, `truly monumental' cathedral was raised above its foundations.

And just as the building has its foundations - so too with the music: Weaving in and out of the performances is the dignified simplicity of plainchant - the basis from which first Leonin then Perotin departed.

The parallel between the increasing power and complication of the building and the developing richness of the music is deliberate - as Antony Pitts (founder of TONUS PEREGRINUS) makes clear in his excellent booklet notes.

More than anything else, however, this CD deserves to be listened to because of the wonderfully clear performance.

Not everyone will appreciate the use of women's voices for the high parts - but for me they give a strength which more than compensates for any niggles over authenticity.

This is not the only way to approach this wonderful music - but the alternatives will have to be very, very good to supplant this recording as my first choice as an introduction to the world of Gothic Polyphony.

Luscious

From the first soul stroking notes of 'O vis aternitatis' there is no doubting the intensity of feeling to be found in both the music and performance.

Recorded over a decade ago, this Sequentia c.d. remains not only the best introduction to the music of Hidegard von Bingen available, but also amongst the finest recordings of mediaeval church music ever made.

All the voices are female and maintain an individual clarity which is distinguishable even when singing in chorus - and in a marvellously atmospheric church acoustic. The voices are sometimes supported by instruments giving a vaguely resonant effect as if the crystal spheres themselves were ringing.

If this sounds as though there is a touch of the `Mystic-Meg' about all this - there is: Hildegard was attempting to capture in sound the ecstatic experience of, in the final words of the recording, `the embraces of the divine mysteries'.

Sequentia have not attempted to reproduce an historically accurate performance: As Ken Clark pointed out in the BBC Series, Civilisation, we `moderns' can never think or feel or believe as the medieval mind did. Instead, we get an intelligent and very accessible programme of pieces which allow us a glimpse into the mind of a woman attempting to reach beyond the stars to `the power of eternity'.

All on Amazon UK

Labels: Amazon, Medaeval, Music

This poor old blog has been somewhat neglected so i have decided to start posting some of my no book reviews - they are almost works of fiction.

Perfect Antidote

Another of those impulse buys that turns out to be a delight.

Apparently the 15^th century had its fair share of nutty professors – and even nuttier hypochondriacs. It was believed that the bite of the tarantula (not the big hairy spider of the rain forest – quite a modest little thing of only a couple of centimetres from the Mediterranean regions) provoked ‘Tarantulism’ – whose various symptoms, included melancholy and the urge to dance with frenzied agitations of the limbs.

Vampire like, this little monster had a habit of injecting its venom into the sleeping neck of its victim – at night or during the afternoon siesta.

The only cure was music.

Fast music with a strong rhythm, and shrill instruments playing it for some; slow and melancholy for others; and almost everything in between if this disc is anything to go by.

Oh, and copious quantities of wine and strong broth which both victim and musicians consumed in the pauses between bouts of uncontrolled dancing.

Sadly the disease seems to have died out at the end of the 18^th century,

Not so the music – which gets a totally spirited (if not actually venom induced) performance from Atrium Musicae de Madrid.

The selection is catholic – ranging from various parts of the Mediterranean and even stealing a jig from that well known warm-holiday destination, Scotland.

Mr. Anonymous is the main composer and he seems to have a delicious sense of humour – his Antidotum Tarentulae on the first track manages to drag in a hotchpotch of instruments including a performing bird or two. But there are a couple of names represented – A Couperin, a Buxtehude mixed in with a Monteverdi, and a Praetorius.

My favourite is track 5, Tarentella Neapoli Tonum Phygium, et al – distinctly the nuttiest and quite maddening with a stomping rhythm that have my fingers dancing in time as I type.

I defy you to listen to this music and not want to ‘jig about’ – as if bitten by the tarantula.

Labels: Amazon, Music