In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic and resultant confinement started me off on a project to record and revisit all 77 liturgical chants written by the 12th century magistra, visionary, healer, poet, musician and all-round influencer, Hildegard Von Bingen. As the project grows, I am keeping a track of all the chants that I have sung and revisited on this page, together with the date the first version of each was posted.
You can also listen to this project on SoundCloud. (I have put the ‘pure’ chants together in one SoundCloud playlist, the revisited one are in another.)
And you can listen here to my interview (24.05.2022, in French) with Bénédicte Minguet about Hildegard, her healing qualities, and this project, on Hors-champ, radio RCF Liège.
Chants
48. o tu suavissima virga
responsory for the Virgin Mary (November 1, 2024)
47. cum processit
[Recording not yet available of Cum processit – the finger of God]
the finger of God (October 18, 2024)
antiphon for the Virgin Mary (September 2, 2024)
46. o splendidissima gemma
Maria, chorzta gemma (August 20, 2024)
antiphon for the Virgin Mary (June 27, 2024) (Scivias series)
45. o magne pater
grief and supplication (March 4, 2024)
antiphon for God the Father (January 10, 2024)
44. o presul vere civitatis
the smoke of spices (November 28, 2023)
43. o quam preciosa
precious hope (April 6, 2023)
42. o cruor sanguinis
41. kyrie eleison
40. o choruscans lux stellarum
39. o ignee spiritus
38. o rubor sanguinis
37. o orzchis ecclesia
36. cum erubuerint
35. o quam mirabilis
34. o jerusalem
33. spiritus sanctus
32. mathias sanctus per electionem
31. o tu illustrata
30. rex noster
29. o speculum columbe
28. o euchari columba
27. alleluia o virga mediatrix
alleluia – o sweet illumination (December 13, 2023)
20-26 + 2. Office for the feast of Saint Ursula: 8 antiphons in matutinis laudibus (for lauds).
26. Antiphon 8: sed diabolus
25. Antiphon 7: deus enim rorum
24. Antiphon 6: et ideo puelle iste
2. (rerecording) Antiphon 5: aer enim volat
23. Antiphon 4: deus enim in prima muliere
22. Antiphon 3: de patris etiam earum
21. Antiphon 2: unde quocumque
20. Antiphon 1: studium divinitatis
19. hodie aperuit
18. o virtus sapientie
17. ave maria
16. o virga ac diadem
15. ave generosa
14. o beata infantia
13. o viriditas digiti dei
12. quia ergo femina
11. o bonifaci
10. laus trinitati
9. o ignis spiritus paracliti
8. columba aspexit
7. o felix apparicio
6. o clarissima mater
5. o frondens virga
4. o viridissima virga
3. karitas habundat
2. aer enim volat
1. o pastor
herder of souls (revisited in November 11, 2021)
Here are some extracts from my very first review, written by Stéphane Dado (directeur artistique adjoint at Les Nuits de Septembre, Festival de Wallonie, Belgium), following a live performance of six of my pieces (you can read the full review here):
Penelope Turner … s’est emparée des monodies envoûtantes d’Hildegard von Bingen afin de leur offrir un écrin polyphonique des plus somptueux … cette réalisation est une totale réussite.
Penelope Turner … has taken the bewitching monodies of Hildegard von Bingen and offered them a most sumptuous polyphonic setting … this achievement is a total success.
Avec un talent consommé, Penelope, qui maîtrise de l’intérieur toutes les inflexions de cette musique, superpose sur chaque mélodie originelle un tissu raffiné d’harmonies délicates qui respectent scrupuleusement le matériau médiéval, qui en renforcent la puissance émotionnelle et le caractère capiteux, au point peut-être de rendre cette esthétique mystique de plus de 750 ans plus accessible pour le grand public !
With consummate talent, Penelope, who thoroughly masters all the inflections of this music, superimposes onto each original melody a refined fabric of delicate harmonies, which scrupulously respect the medieval material and reinforce its emotional power and exuberant character, to the point perhaps of making this mystical aesthetic that is more than 750 years old more accessible to the general public!
Si la compositrice d’aujourd’hui a l’humilité de s’effacer et de se fondre dans la musique de son illustre prédécesseur, elle n’en offre pas moins une création originale aux sonorités inscrites dans la modernité du XXIe siècle.
While today’s composer has the humility to step aside and blend in with the music of her illustrious predecessor, she nonetheless offers an original creation with sounds embedded in the modernity of the 21st century.
Rien ne heurte jamais l’oreille, rien n’est stylistiquement contre-nature, chaque pièce jouit aussi d’un « habillage » personnalisé, il n’y a pas de systématisation procédurière dans ce travail d’écriture de sorte que l’eau du fleuve hildegardien est toujours la même mais n’est jamais la même, un véritable trait de génie au regard d’un répertoire aussi iconique et intouchable.
Nothing ever jars the ear, nothing is stylistically unnatural, the polyphonic flow runs naturally in a shimmer of seemingly simple yet elaborate harmonies. Each piece also benefits from a personalized “dressing” – there is no procedural systematization in these compositions such that the water of the Hildegardian river is always the same but is never the same – a real stroke of genius for such an iconic and untouchable repertoire.
