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 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) with Bénédicte Minguet about Hildegard, her healing qualities, and this project, on Hors-champ, radio RCF Liège.
Chants
44. o presul vere civitatis (June 20, 2023)
43. o quam preciosa (March 28, 2023)
precious hope
42. o cruor sanguinis (February 17, 2023)
41. kyrie eleison (November 4, 2022)
40. o choruscans lux stellarum (August 16, 2022)
39. o ignee spiritus (June 6, 2022)
38. o rubor sanguinis (March 17, 2022)
37. o orzchis ecclesia (January 15, 2022)
1. o pastor – herder of souls (originally recorded on March 18, 2020, revisited again on November 11, 2021)
36. cum erubuerint (August 17, 2021)
35. o quam mirabilis (August 1, 2021)
34. o jerusalem (April 23, 2021)
33. spiritus sanctus (March 24, 2021)
32. mathias sanctus per electionem (February 24, 2021)
31. o tu illustrata (February 7, 2021)
30. rex noster (January 20, 2021)
29. o speculum columbe (January 1, 2021)
28. o euchari columba (December 18, 2020)
27. alleluia o virga mediatrix (November 27, 2020)
26. Office for the feast of Saint Ursula: 8 antiphons in matutinis laudibus (for lauds). Antiphon 8: sed diabolus (October 18, 2020)
25. Office for the feast of Saint Ursula: 8 antiphons in matutinis laudibus (for lauds). Antiphon 7: deus enim rorum (October 18, 2020)
24. Office for the feast of Saint Ursula: 8 antiphons in matutinis laudibus (for lauds). Antiphon 6: et ideo puelle iste (October 18, 2020)
2. (rerecording) Office for the feast of Saint Ursula: 8 antiphons in matutinis laudibus (for lauds). Antiphon 5: aer enim volat (October 18, 2020)
23. Office for the feast of Saint Ursula: 8 antiphons in matutinis laudibus (for lauds). Antiphon 4: deus enim in prima muliere (October 18, 2020)
22. Office for the feast of Saint Ursula: 8 antiphons in matutinis laudibus (for lauds). Antiphon 3: de patris etiam earum (October 10, 2020)
21. Office for the feast of Saint Ursula: 8 antiphons in matutinis laudibus (for lauds). Antiphon 2: unde quocumque (October 9, 2020)
20. Office for the feast of Saint Ursula: 8 antiphons in matutinis laudibus (for lauds). Antiphon 1: studium divinitatis (October 9, 2020)
19. hodie aperuit (September 26, 2020)
18. o virtus sapientie (September 13, 2020)
17. ave maria (September 4, 2020)
16. o virga ac diadem (August 18, 2020)
15. ave generosa (August 7, 2020)
14. o beata infantia (July 14, 2020)
13. o viriditas digiti dei (July 6, 2020)
12. quia ergo femina (June 23, 2020)
11. o bonifaci (June 17, 2020)
10. laus trinitati (June 9, 2020)
9. o ignis spiritus paracliti (June 1, 2020)
8. columba aspexit (May 23, 2020)
7. o felix apparicio (May 16, 2020)
6. o clarissima mater (May 8, 2020)
5. o frondens virga (May 2, 2020)
4. o viridissima virga (April 21, 2020)
3. karitas habundat (April 8, 2020)
2. aer enim volat (March 29, 2020)
1. o pastor (March 18, 2020)
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.
