‘Hildegard Portraits’ on SOMM Recordings BUY HERE
Read our blog and listen to our exclusive single pre-release on Gramophone website to mark St. Hildegard’s 10 year anniversary of her Canonisation on 10th May 2022.
REVIEWS
“Many will be drawn, as with Voice’s other albums, to the beauty and precision of the three-part female harmonies, but this album additionally represents a fresh way of presenting medieval chant, and it’s highly recommended, especially to those contemplating chant repertories other than the music of Hildegard.” —James Manheim, AllMusic
“This is a Hildegard recital with a twist, the life and work of the saint (canonised in 2012) interpreted not only through her own words and music but also through responses to it by several contemporary composers, written for this trio of women’s voices…
The centrepiece is a cycle of miniatures by Laura Moody, each of which explores a distinct facet of Hildegard’s persona. Several of these threads are picked up by the other new works, all of which audibly relate to her music, being neo-tonal in style, with a strong dash of modality. The result is a very coherent, engaging programme.” —Fabrice Fitch, Gramophone
“…this is an astonishing display, both in terms of strong interpretations of Hildegard’s evocative music, and as a demonstration of virtuosic vocal talent in the contemporary works – highly recommended!” –Nick Boston
Watch our new video of Musical Harmony by Marcus Davidson
Hildegard Portraits, takes its name from a suite of pieces written for Voice by composer Laura Moody (2021) as part of a collaborative multimedia show called Hildegard Transfigured with visual artist Innerstrings, supported by Help Musicians.
Moody’s pieces set extracts and fragments of Hildegard’s letters, published in The Personal Correspondence of Hildegard of Bingen, translated by Joseph L Baird and Radd K Ehrman (OUP 2006). These pieces form the narrative thread through the album and shine a light on Hildegard’s strong personality as an extraordinarily influential woman in a male dominated world, her capacity to love passionately, play-up to a subservient role, and wield ferocious power in the name of God.