The Whole Music Experience

Anonymous 4 Secret Voices Chant & Polyphony from the Las Huelgas Codex Harmonia Mundi I’m pleased to receive a new recording by the all-woman vocal ensemble Anonymous 4.   While I’m not a Christian, I enjoy Christian music from medieval and renaissance eras.   I find the polyphony and Gregorian chants relaxing, as do many music fans.   In fact, there is a craze out there for this type of music that goes underground at times only to resurface later.  Many of the fans of early sacred music aren’t religious, but looking for peaceful and contemplative music. I lose track of the number of albums recorded by Anonymous 4, but each album features provocative music programs.   We are usually treated to music sung by ancient women or composed by women as in the case of Hildegard von Bingen, which Anonymous 4 covered.   However, on the latest recording, Secret Voices , we are privy to medieval music from the cloisters of Las Huelgas, in Cas...

Anonymous 4 Four Centuries of Chant Harmonia Mundi The laws of synchronicity work efficiently in my life. Two weeks ago, I pulled out Anonymous 4’s Portrait because I was craving ethereal polyphonic chants. Then I received an e-mail release notice from Harmonia Mundi announcing a new Anonymous 4 recording. Four Centuries of Chant, though is a compilation archives monody or plainsong chants that appeared on previous albums. While this quartet is mostly known for its vocal polyphony, the 20 plainsong chants (which includes work by Hildegard von Bingen, Tavener, along with medieval, renaissance chants and Hungarian Christmas music), deserve attention. These chants were culled from An English Ladymass , The Lily & The Lamb , Miracles of Sant’Iago , A Star in the East , Hildegard Von Bingen—11,000 Virgins , A Lammas Ladymass, The Legend of Nicholas , 1000: A Mass for the End of Time , Darkness into Light , and The Origins of Fire . Susan Hellauer cited in the liner notes, ...