Christmas falls on the 3rd November this year for electro fans. Because each time Erwan Castex a.k.a. Rone drops an album it really is a gift. This disc comes four years after Tohu Bohu (his magnificent missive written and posted from Berlin, which allowed him to make a name for himself and impose a style of his own) and two years after the beautiful and bewildering album Creatures. This gifted sound engineer has now added another floor to his electronic tower of Babel. And yes, it is indeed this famous construction from The Book of Genesis that is the best symbol for his work. Far from the dancefloor, Rone’s music is a multistory building in which we have already met people as diverse as Etienne Daho, François Marry without her Atlas Mountains, the unusual cellist Gaspar Claus, the equally elusive pianist Bachar Mar-Khalifé, Bryce Dessner from The National or even the avant-garde Japanese trumpeter Toshinori Kondo… For this fourth work, whose liner notes bear the name of Michel Gondry and his son Paul, Rone has assembled John Stanier, Claus and Dessner from the group Vacarme once again, as well as the slam poet Saul Williams, the quirky Baxter Dury, the Israeli Noga Erez and Kazu Makino from Blonde Redhead. Taken independently, each piece on Mirapolis differs from the next. But Rone, being a sound architect, manages to homogenize all these sound textures and ambiences to make for a disorienting sensory trip. Sometimes electro is not the dominant genre but this doesn’t matter as it’s always Rone who comes out on top. © MD/Qobuz

After nearly ten years of existence, the male vocal sextet The Gesualdo Six, formed behind the desks of Cambridge University, can boast of having developed a tone and personality that are all their own, already immortalized on eight albums released on Hyperion. Since Universal Music Group’s purchase of the label, digital music fans can rejoice about being able to enjoy the Hyperion catalogue as it is gradually made available on streaming platforms and for download. The Morning Star is the first new release from The Gesualdo Six since the label’s new life. With the approach of the holiday season, the sextet has come up with a repertoire that sweeps nearly five centuries of vocal music. The common thread that links the works? They all are anchored in a seminal episode of the Biblical tradition: the night the infant Christ was visited by the Three Wise Men. The album features titles from the Franco-Flemish school of the sixteenth century (Lassus, Manchicourt) to contemporary compositions by Arvo Pärt and Joanna Marsh.The vocal perfection of the Gesualdo Six can’t help but unite all sensibilities, going beyond any potential divides within this program that freely and happily jumps from era to era, at the risk of startling the listener’s ear. They manage to do so on account of the musical genius of the singers, who are perfect on all counts: their sonoric unity, the fashioning of their timbre, their perfectly-coordinated breathing. A breathtaking jewel of a record that is likely one of, if not the, most beautiful vocal music production of 2023. © Pierre Lamy/Qobuz     

To judge from the minimal graphics of this Carpe Diem release, soprano Arianna Savall doesn't have quite the skills of her famous father, Jordi, at wrangling support from the Catalonian government for lavish six-language booklets. It's too bad, for what Savall and her accompanying group, Hirundo Maris, offer here is a novel approach to the music of the medieval German abbess Hildegard von Bingen. Chant singing is essentially a group activity, but the expressivity of Hildegard's compositions, with their wide melodic ranges and distinctive original poetry, has inspired more subjective approaches with solo singing. This is all to the good as long as listeners realize that what they're getting is not a historically informed performance. Indeed, Hirundo Maris contains a mix of instruments gleefully ranging from the Persian santur to the Scandinavian nyckelharpa, deployed so as to generate shimmering, shifting textures thought to complement the spirituality of the texts. An especially inspired if totally ahistorical addition is a Tibetan singing bowl, used to produce an attractive drone note. Savall's voice will not disappoint those who've heard her on Jordi Savall's recordings, and she seems to react genuinely to Hildegard's ecstatic poetry. There are some instrumental compositions by ensemble co-founder Petter Udland Johansen that try to evoke the general mood of Hildegard's music; because they add percussion and are not really consistent in tonal material, they tend to break that mood. And the addition of a piece by Petrus Abelardus (the Abelard in Abelard and Heloise) also seems out of place, although it does set off Hildegard's distinctive style. Recommended for fans of the Savall clan and for those interested in novel approaches to medieval music. © TiVo

It’s the story of a friendship: the one that unites French-Canadian singer Kyrie Kristmanson and the percussionists of the Trio SR9: Alexandre Esperet, Nicolas Cousin, and Paul Changariner. After a few isolated collaborations revolving around the melodies of Fauré, whose beautiful “Les Berceaux” appeared on a previous SR9 album, Ravel Influence(s), the four musicians were itching to record an album together. It’s also the story of the unfortunate centuries-old erasure of female composers. All too often remembered as “spouse, sister, or daughter of,” the examples abound: Fanny Hensel, Clara Schumann, Anna Maria Mozart… “I would venture to guess that Anon, who wrote so many poems without signing them, was often a woman,” Virginia Woolf once said, as journalist Aliette de Laleu cites in the accompanying liner notes. Ultimately, it’s the story of a rehabilitation spanning centuries and repertoires: from Barbara Strozzi to Lili Boulanger; or Hildegarde von Bingen and Harriet Abrams. With Venus Rising, we are granted 12 vibrant and powerful melodies, which resurrect these women’s creations, including their highly sensitive lyrics touching upon timeless, universal topics: the absence of a loved one (“Hai Luli” - Pauline Viardot), the mysteries of the night (“June Twilight” - Rebecca Clark), the inability to express oneself (“Talk” - Kyrie Kristmanson)... Yet above all, it’s the story of musical craftsmanship, and, at its core, it’s an immense and magnificent esthetic shock. With their ramshackle instrumentation based on a prepared piano, clashing strings, and glasses of water tuned to specific keys, the unpredictable boys of the Trio SR9 and Kyrie Kristmanson, with her bewitching, feline voice, take us on a journey to a faraway land from which we never want to return. It’s true that some may find it grating and bothersome. It's also true that Grégoire Letouvet’s sophisticated arrangements may throw some people off, but what is undeniably present is a true freedom of voice, creating music that is fully alive and perfectly suited to the present time. © Pierre Lamy/Qobuz

Stephen Hough has built a legion of fans from his varied activities as a polymath. He is known internationally as a pianist, with a catalog of more than 60 recordings and having performed around the world. However, Hough is also an award-winning poet, a painter, a columnist, an educator, and a composer, and it is in that last role that he is featured here. Among his many followers is conductor Michael Waldron, who enthusiastically took up this project with Orchid Classics' Matthew Trusler. Waldron and his London Choral Sinfonia (with organist James Orford) offer a diverse program of music for the choral world, with a cappella works, arrangements on familiar tunes, a mass (which lends the album its title), a Sonatina for Organ, and other works accompanied by organ. For many, this will be an important introduction to Hough's compositions, and there are many highlights; among them is the wonderful sound from St. John the Evangelist, Islington, London. The London Choral Sinfonia fills the space, and the text is clear throughout, which is crucial in the Londinium Magnificat and Nunc dimittis, where Hough inventively uses Latin and English texts simultaneously. The story around the creation and naming of his Missa Mirabilis ("Miraculous") involves writing three mass movements in three days, followed by a major car accident, and finally writing the Agnus Dei movement while in hospital. The harmonic and rhythmic devices and textual phrasing of this Ordinary Mass stand out as distinct; consider the Credo movement and the organ's role alongside the relationship between the divided men's and women's choirs. The concluding arrangement of Danny Boy is going to leave listeners (and this reviewer) humming the tune. Hough is able to add his harmonic stamp without losing its melodic identity. © Keith Finke /TiVo

This album is entitled 11,000 Virgins and has been heavily hyped by Harmonia Mundi. And with good reason: the Anonymous 4 have not only garnered high praise for their performances of Medieval and religious music, but at least two of their recordings, Miracles of Sant'iago and On Yoolis Night, have hit the charts, attracting the so-called "crossover" segment among potential buyers. The group's successes are not difficult to understand: their beautiful, mostly unison singing produces a sound that combines a sweet mellowness with a kind of mesmeric serenity. The disc's title refers to the fifth-century legend of St. Ursula and the 11,000 virgins who, returning from a religious pilgrimage, were said to be slaughtered in Cologne by Attila the Hun when they refused to submit to concubinage. Actually, there may well have been only a handful of virgins accompanying Ursula, exaggeration that often accompanies legend accounting for the possibly inflated number. In any event, the martyrdom of these innocent women moved composers, writers, and clergy to extol them for many centuries to come. Hildegard (1098-1179) wrote several chants inspired by this legend. Seven of the eighteen selections here are hers; the remainder are from anonymous sources, identified in the album booklet listings usually by location, edition and a time. The first track, for example, contains an Antiphon (Auctori vite psalmis) and Invitatory (Venite exsultemus domino) that are attributed to "Karlsruhe LX (13th c.)." The music on the disc spans the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries, though there's little stylistic dissimilarity throughout the eighteen pieces. Those by the mystic nun and cononized saint Hildegard of Bingen will, of course, draw the most attention. It is one of the ironies of our age that nine centuries after her birth she has become a cult figure (surely not by her design), with a worldwide popularity surpassing that of many talented artists who have taken great pains to advance their careers and fame. To cite just a few examples of the impressive artistry here, try Hildegard's Symphonia virginum: O dulcissime amator, where this quartet finds a perfect balance between religious ecstasy and seductive vocalism, between reverential solemnity and sonorous beauty. This is truly a compelling performance of an inspired chant, perhaps the best music on the disc. Jesu corona virginum, attributed to the Ahrweil Antiphoner (13th c.), sounds like the precursor to Pange Lingua (Sing, my tongue), traditionally sung on Holy Thursday in the Roman Catholic Church. Whatever the case, the Anonymous 4 deliver it serenely and sweetly. Try also Hildegard's Cum vox sanguinis, where the group conveys a sense of hope and spirituality with soothing yet incisive vocalism. Not only is everything here beyond reproach, but nothing is less than utterly compelling. Excellent sound too, and full texts. Highly recommended. © TiVo

Hildegard von Bingen is a threefold miracle: miracle that there even existed a woman composer in the twelfth century, miracle that she wrote down (or had a secretary write them) her quite numerous compositions as well as signing them, and a miracle that the manuscripts survived the ordeal of eight hundred centuries and came down to us in perfect shape. We know the names of only very few twelfth-century composers, and in most cases the name is the only information we have, not linked to any scores. Hildegard is a revelation from this perspective as well. Her works of sacred music, which consist of 77 pieces, and the liturgical drama Ordo Virtutum constitute a separate compositional approach inspired by the monophonic tradition of Gregorian chant, but which was like nothing else in its time, a distinctive approach that no one was able to continue. Although Hildegard denies having had any tuition in neumes and singing, it can be supposed that this was merely a gesture of a person who simply could not admit her own skill. But from her Vita we know that Mistress Jutta, her tutoring abbess, taught her to sing the psalms and led her to give praise on the ten-stringed psaltery. We also know that the nuns at the Rupertsberg cloister had mandatory singing lessons. It is not clear what singing tuition consisted of in those days, but noting Hildegard’s difficult melismatic, often virtuoso compositions requiring a vast vocal range, it can be presumed that the lessons must have fulfilled at least some of the requirements of our day and age. She composed her chants for both important and local feast days of the liturgical year. Her music beckons to be experimented with. As something of a challenge, the Tiburtina Ensemble chose an improvised accompaniment of the monophonic vocals on the most ancient plucked string instruments – the harp and the zither (dulce melos).

After 18 years spent together on the road and in the recording studio, Anonymous 4 decided to call it a day at the end of its 2004 touring season. Sad news for the early music world to be sure, but Anonymous 4 has decided to go out with a bang rather than a whimper, producing as its last scheduled Harmonia Mundi album a second collection of Hildegard von Bingen to go with the group's great first collection, 11,000 Virgins. The Origin of Fire: Music and Visions of Hildegard von Bingen differs from other offerings of a similar kind in that Anonymous 4 develops a context for Hildegard's material, combining it with music that Hildegard and her nuns would have sung with regularity. In addition, Anonymous 4 has set to music, apparently for the first time, some of Hildegard's text-only "visions" by utilizing recitation tones found in medieval sources. One usually finds such music without words, as they are designed to be adaptable for a number of texts within a certain portion of the liturgy -- it is nice that Anonymous 4 has located something to hang onto them so that we may hear these psalm tones in recorded form. The booklet for this release is especially nice, liberally illustrated with Hildegard's visual art and drawings of herbs from medieval books. Susan Hellauer's notes are succinct, elegant, and lay out the concept behind the program in the most comprehensive manner possible without being wordy or obscure. Full texts and translations into four languages are included in a handsome 72-page booklet. The performance of the pieces is, as usual, sublime, with the longer Hildegard works, such as the Responsory O felix anima and her extensive hymn-setting O ignee spiritus, being particularly worthy of comment. The Origin of Fire does not altogether spell the end to Anonymous 4's journey, as the members have agreed to regroup as needed for special projects. As a closer to what has been a stunning career, influencing the entire early music world, one could hardly wish for a better consummation of Anonymous 4's collective talents than this. © TiVo

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Regis' Hildegard von Bingen: Vespers from the Abbey features Hildegard's music performed on what could almost be considered an "original instrument," namely the choir that belongs to what is left of her own abbey. Hildegard was prioress of two abbeys, Rupertsberg and Eibingen, of which the former burned during the Thirty Years War and the latter wiped out by a lightning strike in 1889. The Hildegard Abbey was erected near the Eibingen site in 1904; it, too, burned in 1932, but was rebuilt in 1935 and stands as the requisite reliquary for Hildegard on this earth. This recording of the Benedictine Nuns of St. Hildegard Eibingen was made by the Freiburg Baroque Forum and originally released on the Ars Musici label under the title O vis aeternitatis. It arrives a little late to cash in on the Hildegard craze touched off in the early '90s by the writings of Creation Spirituality guru Matthew Fox. Although it is impossible to say that any recording of Hildegard accurately reflects the way her music was heard in the twelfth century, this is as close to the perceived tradition as one is likely to get. There is no fancy, sexy reverberation or hypnotic drones used here -- it's a straight-up performance of four of Hildegard's antiphons and two of her sequences given within the context of a typical Vespers service as sung by middle-aged German nuns. In a liturgical sense, this is a very complete service; it even includes the scripture reading from the first five verses of Chapter 21 of Revelation, as sung on a reciting tone. The singing is plain and undecorated, and the recording is almost of documentary quality, a little hiss and full of stray environmental sounds floating around the background. Chances are you won't notice them much, and while this is a very honest representation of Hildegard's music "as it really is," it may not sound much different from what you might hear at the convent nearest you. However, that is part of its charm. © TiVo

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