What happens when a raucous Scandinavian folk band armed with strings, acoustic guitars, and percussion rearranges the music of a 12th-century nun and updates it with modern electronic backdrops? Why, you get Garmarna's ... more »Hildegard von Bingen, a surprisingly sedate affair that marries the sacred and the secular in a truly unorthodox fashion. The band's organic and synthetic elements are on opposite ends of the aural spectrum, but--purism be damned--Garmarna makes it appealing. There are times when the beats are a little intrusive on Hildegard's striking melodies--which are beautifully sung here by singer Emma Härdelin--but they never overwhelm the music and aren't always present. Overall, this album, created and named in Hildegard von Bingen's honor, serves as a reverent tribute to her music, and it might just influence newer, younger listeners to investigate her 900-year-old repertoire. --Bryan Reesman« less
What happens when a raucous Scandinavian folk band armed with strings, acoustic guitars, and percussion rearranges the music of a 12th-century nun and updates it with modern electronic backdrops? Why, you get Garmarna's Hildegard von Bingen, a surprisingly sedate affair that marries the sacred and the secular in a truly unorthodox fashion. The band's organic and synthetic elements are on opposite ends of the aural spectrum, but--purism be damned--Garmarna makes it appealing. There are times when the beats are a little intrusive on Hildegard's striking melodies--which are beautifully sung here by singer Emma Härdelin--but they never overwhelm the music and aren't always present. Overall, this album, created and named in Hildegard von Bingen's honor, serves as a reverent tribute to her music, and it might just influence newer, younger listeners to investigate her 900-year-old repertoire. --Bryan Reesman
Giordano Bruno | Wherever I am, I am. | 03/04/2010
(1 out of 5 stars)
"There's a market these days for mysticism, especially erotic mysticism written by a Medieval nun in ecstatic Latin. If the nun tiptoed a fine line between heresy and sainthood, all the better! Hildegard von Bingen, unlikely as it sounds, is marketable in these times, when so many people are terrified of humanity's scientific shadow and unable to accept their miniscule place in time and space. The philosopher Spinoza had one answer for them, but many find Hildegard more comfortable, especially when updated with a techno-punk synthesizer riff and the omnipresent duple-time pulse of pop percussion.
Yes, this IS a CD of the words of Hildegard von Bingen, sung in Latin by Emma Härdelin and backed by the guitars, fiddles and percussion of the Swedish group Garmarna. Swedish folk-pop may not be everyone's flask of akvavit, but in the past Garmarna has cut some bewitching, especially on their CD "God's Musicians". I sincerely hope they produced this travesty out of sheer opportunism, hoping to cash in on the vogue for Hildegard. If they were serious, I have only one question: Why?"