Hildegard von Bingen: Ordo Virtutum

Ensemble Belcanto
Andrea Baader -  Sopran
Edith Murasov - Mezzosopran
Rica Rauch - Alt
Martina Scharstein - Sopran
Dietburg Spohr - Mezzosopran
Benjamin Cromme - Sprechstimme
Lilith Reid - Sprechstimme
Selina Drews - Mädchensopran

Recorded October 2010

This is the second New Series album to feature the Ensemble Belcanto. Where its predecessor focused on contemporary composition, this new disc looks at Hildegard of Bingen’s Ordo Virtutum, written around 1150 and generally considered the first large-scale musical work beyond the prescribed form of the Mass liturgy. In her creative interpretation, Belcanto leader Dietburg Spohr waives claims to ‘objective’ historical literalness. Instead, she and her fellow singers encounter the work as if it were written specifically for the Ensemble Belcanto: “We sought to free Hildegard from mystical-esoteric associations and to emphasize the work of an emancipated woman and composer.”