Edda - An Icelandic Saga - Myths From Medieval Iceland / Sequentia
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Free Music Notes for Edda - An Icelandic Saga - Myths From Medieval Iceland / Sequentia
Free Music Review: Music for a Winter Night
Hit: 5 Stars
The first time I listened to this, the best (to my mind) of any of Sequentia's recorded output, what struck me was the strangeness of it. In short order it became one of my favorite CDs, at least in part because it sounds like music Tolkien's characters or the late Poul Anderson's heros might have listened to; as another reviewer said, it is music for a winter night, with a blizzard howling outside and shadows from a roaring fire (the only light in the room) making tales of Odin, Thor and their battles with the Jotuns seem almost real. Yes, there are anachronisms in this alburm - for example, the Norse eight-stringed violin used for the musical interludes probably hadn't been invented yet when the last Norse country, Iceland, went over to Christianity in the 1200s. And the language in which the vocal parts are performed, I was told by an Icelandic-speaking friend, is not QUITE Icelandic. It is the language used by Snorri Sturlasson, the turbulent Icelandic bard who first put together the poems now known as the Eddas, some time after the death of Icelandic paganism, and has about as much relationship to Icelandic as Catalan does to modern Spanish. And its meaning is very much a matter of debate - compare the translation of the "Ragnarok" given in the excellent liner notes to five other published translations and you will get wide variations in the meaning of certain words and phrases. But ignore all that and just listen - whether the musical style is Gregorian, Old Norse or something else, it is a time machine that will take you back to a dead age long before our own, a trick Sequentia was unfortunately unable to repeat in its multi-disk version of the Nibelungenlied.Free Music Review: A real change of pace for Sequentia
Hit: 5 Stars
Unless you own some of the "Vox Iberia" CDs, you may associate Sequentia almost exclusively with the music of Hildegard von Bingen, and it is true that as of late the group seems to have been Hildegard-obsessed. Some critics went so far to claim that Sequentia was cashing in on the Hildegard craze of the 1990's, although I think that is a bit unfair. However, one was beginning to wonder if we would ever see another non-Hildegard recording from Sequentia.Well by golly, a rendition of the Icelandic Eddas is going in a direction about as far from Hildegard as one can get. It is certainly nice to see Sequentia exploring new ground again.
These are certainly much more stark arrangements than one might expect from Sequentia, but the nature of the Eddas certainly demands it. The arrangements definitely work, and the results are compelling. Familiarity with the Eddic poems is helpful but hardly essential, as knowledge of Icelandic.
What I especially enjoyed, as a hardingfele enthusiast, is Sequentia's decision to turn to the Norwegian hardingfele tradition when constructing the instrumental music on this disc. I can only hope that listening to "Edda" might lead some curious listeners to explore the wonderful sounds of the hardingfele as it exists now in modern Norway.
This is a great change of pace for Sequentia, and is most welcome. It isn't that I hate Hildegard, but through the 1990's we have had more Hildegard recordings than we can shake a stick at, but not much attention being paid to the Eddic tradition. It is nice to see Sequentia filling this void.
Free Music Review: Takes a bit of getting used to, but very beautiful
Hit: 5 Stars
I was not prepared for what I heard on this CD, mostly because I did not know what to expect. I have never heard of anyone attempting to duplicate Norse music or bardic traditions, and if you listen to certain "historians" they would convince you the Norse had none. :) So it's nice to know they weren't so uncivilized after all. I was very pleasantly surprised by this CD, the music was both alien and familiar at the same time. The Seeress' Prophecy songs are my favorites, as well as the instrumental Fire and Ice. The performers are very absorbed in their performance; I can't recall the name of the piece but there is one sung by a male performer who smacks his harp to emphasize certain parts of his tale! I can't think of another group that would do that...Sequentia is one of my favorite groups, I especially love their renditions of Hildegard of Bingen's work, so this was a must have for me. The performers pay close attention to detail, which makes all of their works exceptionally good. Usually you'd find me combing through the lyrics to find out what the singers are saying, but I enjoyed this so much I have yet to read the lyrics, and I almost feel like doing so would mar my enjoyment of their performance. I was sorry to read, however, that Barbara Thornton had died just before the CD was released. It makes me wonder what is in store for Sequentia and whether they intend to carry on without her.Free Music Review: Powerful Myths + Scholarly Musicians = Incredible Experience
Hit: 5 Stars
It doesn't hurt to have read the myths beforehand, to know Voluspa--at least a translation of the material. But, even without knowing what is going on, the beauty of this music invites one to wander into a different mindspace. The computer can fade away. The CD player--gone. Now, sitting around the fire, listen to the Edda (grandmother) tell the stories. Tonight the wind doesn't howl so loudly, the snow isn't so cold, bards have joined Edda to remind us of the tales of our heritage.
Is this what our distant Viking kin used to listen to back in their great halls? Absent sound recordings, we'll never know for sure. I do miss the percussion I've heard on other recordings of ancient music.
The stark simplicity of this music compels. "Listen to me!" Hear the words of the Witch, of Voluspa. Hear the tale of Thrym, who steals Thor's hammer and gets taken in by a ruse. "Balder's Dreams" haunts the listener, who knows Balder's fate.
It's interesting to spend 76 minutes listening to this music, then to drop Wagner onto the CD player. The contrast, from the spartan Icelandic music to the richness of the 19th century compositions, can cause a brainquake!
Free Music Review: Udmærket!
Hit: 5 Stars
Myths From Medieval Iceland is the best slice of Nordic culture since Iceland's Bjørk Gudmundsdottir burst on the pop scene with her band Sugarcubes. Seriously, this recording of exerpts from the Edda are executed with as much passion as Sequentia ever put in to recording the entire works of Hildegard von Bingen. The universal appeal of this work was verified by one of my clarinet students when he took this and 5 other examples of Medieval music to give a presentation in an English class. The Icelandic offering was the clear favorite among TEENAGERS! It is heartbreaking that the world lost Sequentia's co-founder Barbara Thornton during the final editing phase of this recording. She had such a perfect balance between historically informed performance practices and delivering work with unbridled passion. What a loss. We are truly fortunate that she left behind such immaculate work as this.