Hildegard Von Bingen: 11,000 Virgins (CD - )

It might be said that if there had been no Hildegard von Bingen someone would have had to invent her, but, if she had been invented, no one would have believed it. And yet, which is more remarkable: that this Benedictine nun founded two convents, authored books of history, language, medicine and poetry, painted, had strange visions and challenged the seats of power, or that nearly a thousand years after her birth she has suddenly become the best-known composer of the medieval world?

Hildegard's 70-odd musical compositions, published as the "Symphony of the Harmony of Celestial Revelations," are all monophonic sacred vocal works, but they are chants with a twist. Full of brilliant poetic images, they feature wide-ranging, ornamented melodies and surprising leaps, creating a mood that might be called ecstatic. In 11,000 VIRGINS, seven of these are placed in the context of a program of chants celebrating the feast of Saint Ursula. Anonymous Four sings them with their characteristic, almost uncanny purity, adding occasional drones and harmonies to vary the texture. minimize