Sacred Chants Grace Davidson

• Hildegard of Bingen (1098 - 1179): Columba aspexit:
• 1 Bingen: Columba aspexit 06:25
• Ave, generosa:
• 2 Bingen: Ave, generosa 05:09
• O ignis spiritus:
• 3 Bingen: O ignis spiritus 05:43
• O Ierusalem, aurea civitas:
• 4 Bingen: O Ierusalem, aurea civitas 10:21
• O Euchari in leta via:
• 5 Bingen: O Euchari in leta via 07:06
• O Viridissima virga:
• 6 Bingen: O Viridissima virga 03:48
• O presul vere civitatis:
• 7 Bingen: O presul vere civitatis 06:26
• O Ecclesia:
• 8 Bingen: O Ecclesia 07:23
• O Virga ac diadema:
• 9 Bingen: O Virga ac diadema 06:38
• Total Runtime 58:59

Info for Sacred Chants

Grace Davidson presents her third release with Signum Classics, an intimate disc of Sacred Chants by Hildegard von Bingen, translations by Jeremy Summerly.

Hildegard was an extremely accomplished composer, as well as a scientist, a diplomat, a poet, and the founder of a religious community. Her melodies rise out of Gregorian chant, with wide voice ranges that are suited to trained singers. The florid imagery of Hildegard’s texts is matched by suitably florid tunes, whose calculated intervals suggest both vocal improvisation and carefully controlled composition. Hilde- gard had the ability to write tunes whose very essence is simultaneously spontaneous yet structured. And such was Hildegard’s character – on the one hand she was intensely practical, and on the other she was a vessel for dreams and visions.

Grace Davidson is a British soprano who specialises first and foremost in the performance and recording of Baroque music. she has worked as a soloist with leading Baroque ensembles, under the batons of Sir John Eliot Gardner, Paul McCreesh, Philippe Herreweghe and Harry Christophers.

Grace Davidson, soprano

Grace Davidson
is a British soprano who specialises first and foremost in the performance and recording of Baroque music.

Grace won the Early Music Prize while studying singing at London’s Royal Academy of Music. Since then, she has worked with leading Baroque ensembles of our day, singing under the batons of Sir John Eliot Gardner. Paul McCreesh, Philippe Herrweghe and Harry Christophers. Her discography includes a decade of CDs with The Sixteen, many of which feature her as soloist – Handel’s Jeptha (as Angel), Dixit Dominus, Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610, Pianto della Madonna, and the Lutheran Masses of Bach.

Next year she will record Acis and Galatea for Harry Christophers with a performance at Wigmore Hall.

The technical mastery that comes with singing Baroque music plus Grace’s musicality and exceptional purity of tone have broadened her career into the worlds of contemporary classical and crossover music. With Max Richter she has recorded Sleep and Woolfworks (for Deutsche Gramophon). She has already performed Sleep all over the world; next year, performances are planned in New Zealand, the USA, Germany and Australia. Next year she will record Memoryhouse, also by Richter.

She has made recordings (on Decca) with the American composer Eric Whitacre, with Christian Forshaw’s Sanctuary Ensemble and with Patrick Hawes on his celebrated album Angel. She is the solo singer on Howard Shore’s live-to-projection concert version of Lord of the Rings.

Booklet for Sacred Chants