Weekend, Nov 18-19, 2023 – Programs 2346A & 2346B

21st Century Mediaeval Hymns; Kevin Keller-The Echoes Interview

We go to the monastery on Echoes when Kevin Keller talks about his album, Evensong. It is partly based on the chants and hymns of 12^th century Abbess Hildegard von Bingen.

You might recall the chant craze of the 1990s when The Benedictine Monks of Santo Domingo singing gothic hymns were topping the charts, and artists like Enigma were adapting chants into their music. But rising above them all were the 12th century compositions of Abbess Hildegard von Bingen. Her music was recreated by artists like Gothic Voices, Sequentia and Anonymous 4, and adapted for 20th century ears by Richard Souther, Vox, and David Lynch with Jocelyn Montgomery. Now composer Kevin Keller has created his own beautiful renderings of her music on the album Evensong. A CD of the Month in November, Today we might call Hildegard a polymath. She was a writer, philosopher, mystic, and medical practitioner. But she is best known for her music, heavenly plainchant hymns that call to the heavens in the most sensual way. Many of these came to her in visions, and that’s how Kevin Keller’s album, Evensong arrived

Kevin Keller: At the risk of sounding a little too mystical, this album did sort of come to me in a vision. It arrived fully formed in my brain two years ago in October of 21. And just in like the space of a couple of hours, I had the album title, the concept, and I knew right from the beginning that it was going to involve songs by Hildegard of Bingen and that there would be eight songs.

We talk to Kevin Keller about bringing these gothic sounds into the 21^st century. .

Hear it tonight or Right Now at Echoes On-Line.
Read John Diliberto’s CD of the Month Review of Evensong

PLAYLIST FOR KEVIN KELLER FEATURE

Sequentia – O Virdissima Virga, Ave – Canticles of Ecstasy
Sequentia – O Vis Aeternitatis – Canticles of Ecstasy
Richard Souther – Vision – Vision: The Music of Abbess Hildegard von Bingen
Kevin Keller – Evensong 7 – Evensong
Kevin Keller – Evensong 4 – Evensong
Kevin Keller – Evensong 3 – Evensong
Kevin Keller – Evensong 1 – Evensong
Kevin Keller – Evensong 7 – Evensong
Kevin Keller – Evensong 8 – Evensong
Kevin Keller – Evensong 4 – Evensong
Kevin Keller – Evensong 5 – Evensong

 

Mimi Page is an auteur of electronic dream pop and a composer of video game scores. You’ve also heard her music turn up in TV series like Dark.  We’ve been intoxicated by her for years, whether it’s her serene vocals on Breathe Me In, the celestial choirs of Dark Before the Dawn, her collaborations with Delerium, or her own evocative instrumentals. But her new album, Sound Healing Volume 1 takes her in a more meditative direction. John Diliberto talks with Mimi Page on Echoes from PRX.

MIMI PAGE FEATURE PLAYLIST

Artist – Title – Album
Mimi Page – Wisdom of the Trees – Sound Healing Volume 1
Mimi Page – Mystical Forest – Sound Healing Volume 1
Mimi Page – Flowing – Dark Before the Dawn
Enigma – Return to Innocence – The Cross of Changes
Deuter – Flowers of Silence – Hollow Bamboo (Podcast Version)
Mimi Page – Breath Me In – Breathe Me In
Mimi Page – Black Valentine – Breathe Me In
Mimi Page – The Ethereal Blues – The Ethereal Blues
Delerium – Falling Back to You (with Mimi Page) – Signs
Bass Nectar – Buttlerfly – Vava Voom
Mimi Page – Wisdom of the Trees – Sound Healing Volume 1
Mimi Page -Eventide – Sound Healing Volume 1
Mimi Page – Mystical Forest – Sound Healing Volume 1
Mimi Page – Summer Rain – Sound Healing Volume 1
Mimi Page – Clarity –Sound Healing Volume 1

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