Sibil•la Ensemble

Viriditas

Winner of the 2024 Indie Film Awards for Best Music Video
Honourable Mention of the 2024 Cologne Movie Marathon
Nominated for 2025 International Classical Music Award – Best Early Music

Sibil•la Ensemble draws inspiration from the Sibyls, the female prophetesses who have captivated the human imagination from ancient pagan times to the medieval era and Renaissance. Sibyls were revered across cultures for their divine insights and prophecies. They were seen as conduits between the mortal realm and the divine, shaping the spiritual beliefs of Western civilizations throughout history.

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About the album

  • Winner of the 2024 Indie Film Awards for Best Music Video
  • Honourable Mention of the 2024 Cologne Movie Marathon
  • Nominated for 2025 International Classical Music Award – Best Early Music

Sibil•la Ensemble draws inspiration from the Sibyls, the female prophetesses who have captivated the human imagination from ancient pagan times to the medieval era and Renaissance. Sibyls were revered across cultures for their divine insights and prophecies. They were seen as conduits between the mortal realm and the divine, shaping the spiritual beliefs of Western civilizations throughout history.

The mystical concept of Viriditas is originating from the theological writings of the German Benedictine abbess, composer, philosopher, mystic, and polymath Hildegard von Bingen, ‘Sibyl of the Rhine’. Hildegard was known for her ability to commune with the divine and derive insights from nature. In Hildegard’s philosophy, Viriditas symbolises the vibrant, life-giving energy that permeates the natural world and the essence of greenness and flora. This divine force, both physical and spiritual, was believed to be experienced in moments of ecstatic connection, where the boundaries between humanity and nature blur.

These 12th and 13th century chants and secular songs from Germany, Spain, France and Cyprus are centred around the concept of Viriditas. Each one is a tribute to the generative power of nature that the Sybils embodied, celebrating its rhythms, cycles, and eternal harmony.

Tracklist click to play/pause

  • Hildegard von Bingen

    O virtus Sapientiae

    4:22 Play button Pause button 4:22
  • Cantigas de Santa Maria

    Gran poder a de mantar

    2:45 Play button Pause button 2:45
  • Cantigas de Santa Maria

    Rosa das Rosas

    4:28 Play button Pause button 4:28
  • Anonymous

    El Misteri d'Elx: O Arbre Sanct

    7:06 Play button Pause button 7:06
  • Ivan Gianakis

    Percussion improvisation

    3:01 Play button Pause button 3:01
  • Hildegard von Bingen

    O nobilissima viriditas

    5:23 Play button Pause button 5:23
  • Traditional

    Song of Klidonas

    4:18 Play button Pause button 4:18
  • Traditional

    Parakalo tin Panayia

    4:14 Play button Pause button 4:14
  • Marguerite Maire

    Recorder improvisation

    4:08 Play button Pause button 4:08
  • Moniot d'Arras

    Ce fut en mai

    4:09 Play button Pause button 4:09
  • Hildegard von Bingen

    Karitas habundat

    8:17 Play button Pause button 8:17

More information

Label TRPTK
Genre(s) Classical – Early Music (< 1600)
Artist(s) Sibil•la Ensemble
Composer(s) Anonymous
Bingen, Hildegard von
d'Arras, Moniot
Recording location(s) Westerkerk, Enkhuizen (NL)
Recording date(s) September 2023
Cat. No.

TTK 0120

Release date

March 15th, 2024

Additional links

Download Booklet(PDF)

Tech specs

Microphones

Josephson C617 w/ Gefell MK221 capsules (main)
DPA 4006A (height)
Sonodore MPM-91 (soprano)
Ehrlund EHR-M (baritone, vielle, percussion, lute)
DPA 4015A (flute)

Microphone preamps

Grace Design m801mk2

AD/DA conversion

Merging Technologies Hapi MkII
Merging Technologies Anubis
Grimm Audio CC2

Recording resolution

DSD 11.2MHz 1bit

Mastering resolution

PCM 352.8kHz 64bit

Monitoring (recording)

Audeze LCD-X

Monitoring (mastering)

Grimm Audio LS1be
Grimm Audio SB1

Cabling

Purecable Optimus Link Microphone Cables
Purecable Optimus Power
Purecable Prime DIG75 Wordclock Cable

"If you enjoy early music and the playing of instruments of that period, this is an album that should be a must buy on your list of future acquisitions. If you enjoy a bit of the mystical with your rebec, all the better! Plus, the performances are gorgeously captured by TRPTK's masterful recording engineer Brendon Heinst."

Rushton Paul, Positive Feedback

"It's one thing for a pianist to conjure the spirit of the time associated with Beethoven or Bach; it's quite another for a group to make the chants and secular songs of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries feel like newly born creations. That's something Sibil•la Ensemble resplendently achieves, however, on its debut album Viriditas."

Ron Schepper, Textura

"Here the reproduction was almost palpable. What a treat to hear and see these young musicians. With such dedication and intensity, but at the same time with a playful ease. Wow."

Theo Wubbolts, Music Emotion

"[Sibil-la Ensemble's] art is a magnificent paradigm of devoted work on the preservation and development of European music heritage, their focus on Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque music underlined a decisive field of the cultural interdisciplinary character of European heritage."

Thrausma Journal

"This debut release is as unusual as it is intriguing. It has a ring of purity around it, taking you out of your daily routine whilst inspiring a kind of divine mystery beyond practising earthly religion. Carefully crafted and expertly recorded, including in wide surround, and for those who like it, also available in 4K Video Download, this debut recording has the ethereal power mankind needs in modern testing times."

Adrian Quanjer, HRAudio

"[Kristia] Michael is a vocal artist who navigates between piety and the raw Mediterranean. Subtle are the guttural arabesques with which she adorns the music. The instrumentalists also draw from a rich arsenal, from lute and viola to harp and hurdy-gurdy. An improvisation with percussion and throat singing leaves the Enkhuizen Westerkerk trembling."

Guido van Oorschot, de Volkskrant

"Thanks to the exquisite qualities of the Sibil-la Ensemble, we can enjoy this music in its purest form, with the gorgeously fine recording crowning this sublime musicianship. A debut album that clearly tastes like more."

Aart van der Wal, OpusKlassiek

"The result is pure music arranged and performed with extreme care. Tranquil and contemplative music, with a great link to serenity. Vocal work, such as the opening song O Virtus Sapientiae (H. v. Bingen) has great eloquence. [...] Viriditas is the debut CD of the Sibil-la Ensemble. An album that sounds outstanding not only musically, but also audio-technically."

Mattie Poels, Music Frames

Further reading

SKU: TTK 0120 DL Category:
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