As the 800th anniversary of the birth of Hildegard (1198) draws near we may expect a spate of recordings of her works. Sequentia has long since embarked upon the complete series. Organum now adds a reconstruction of a single whole service as it might have been sung on the Rupertsberg by Hildegard and her nuns, the Office of Lauds for the Feast of St Ursula with her band of 11,000 virgins – a feast which clearly found a sympathetic resonance with the composer (incidentally, that incredible number is apparently based on a misreading of “XI MV”, meaning “11 Virgin- Martyrs”). What a splendid and well-rounded performance! The entirely credible drear, slow opening versicles of the male Officiant are perfectly matched by the slow, low-pitched, chest-voiced nuns’ psalmody! As one would expect, though, Peres has not been able to resist the temptation of inserting Eastern-style ornamentation at every single psalm-cadence – those “maddening quirks” as another reviewer has described them – but fairly mild ones none the less. In the notes he does his best, rather unconvincingly, to justify their use, and I confess to having found no clue to such practice in the manuscript source he quotes.
Sequentia’s latest contribution has for its point of origin the ceremony of dedication that would have taken place when Hildegard and her nuns moved to their new monastery on the Rupertsberg. The official liturgy for such an occasion is rich in symbolism and well calculated to inspire the poet and mystic that was Hildegard. These present pieces, with their overtones of Urbs beata Jerusalem and Bernard of Cluny’s Urbs Sion aurea, bring together ideas dear to the heart of Hildegard; the Church, the new Jerusalem made of living stones; Rupert, the patron saint; Hildegard’s own community of consecrated virgins; the heavenly Bridegroom; Mary, the fruitful Virgin; the Holy Spirit; the Incarnation … Sequentia’s ten high voices come into their own, interpreting Hildegard’s soaring melodies with imagination and verve. I find the Magnificat a little too breathless for comfort, with no let-up at the cadences. But apart from that, what an enjoyable programme they have produced, sung with flow and conviction! The bells of Bamberg Cathedral introduce it all on a festive note, which matches their own to perfection, and if we do not actually find ourselves transported on to the Rupertsberg itself, we have at least got as far as St Panteleon of Cologne.'