Tomorrow I have the very good fortune to sing during the 11 am Mass at the Brussels Cathedral. I will be accompanied by the super-talented Xavier Deprez on the organ, and will sing two little gems by Fauré (op. 67) as well as a version of my arrangement of Hildegard von Bingen’s quia ergo femina. […]
o virga ac diadema – the introverted sister Inspired by the fact that this sequence follows a structure that is very similar to the other sequences I have so far recorded, I decided to make a this one into a sibling for the previously recorded o ignis spiritus paracliti. I see it as rather like […]
o virga ac diadema The queenship of the Virgin Mary is celebrated this Saturday, August 22nd. I have chosen the sequence o virga ac diadema, which gives her a royal, purple crown, for the occasion. This one, like ave generosa (see previous post) is partially missing in the Dendermonde manuscript. So I’ve gone with the […]
ave generosa – version “hurdy gurdy” Six of the seven sections of this hymn to Maria begin with the interval of a fifth. Such a pronounced repetition is unusual in the chants that I’ve seen so far, and it gave me the idea to use a two-note drone to define the piece. And it sounds […]
ave generosa This lovely hymn is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and therefore rather appropriate for assumption (August 15th). It is incomplete in the Dendermonde manuscript (which seems to be missing a page (or more?) between D155v and D156 – the manuscript jumps from the middle of ave generosa to part way through o virga […]
