Search - Anne Azema :: Provence Mystique: Sacred Songs of the Middle Ages

Very beautiful and enchanting!

09/24/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This album reminds me a lot of Sequentia's albums on the music of Hildegard of Bingen. However, I won't compare the two because I think it's unfair. To start with, even thought the title of this work states that the music is "sacred songs of the Middle Ages", I found that to be a bit misleading. The music was written by laymen, one of whom actually happens to be a king (Alfonso el Sabio), so it would be better to say that this is music that has religious themes (although if you read the lyrics that isn't entirely true for all songs) and were probably sung in a king's or nobleman's court. However, it hardly matters. Anne Azema's voice is very easy on the ears, and the arrangements are perfect. The spoken pieces (there are only two) blend very well with the instrumentals and the sung works. Sometimes when listening to this kind of music the performance gets too heavy, and I find myself wondering when it will end. With this CD, before I was aware of it, I had heard all 13 tracks without even looking once at what track I was on, and it seemed to go by too fast. I can easily state that this will be one of my favorite CD's for a long time. This would be a good introduction for those who want to listen to the music of the Middle Ages."