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 Great collection but uneven Jul 28, 2008
First, I think this is a great collection of music. It captures the mystery and lure of the Norse Myths in a way which is otherwise unheard of with the possible exception of Svenbjorn Beintenssen's recordings from the 1970's.
However, I found the quality of the music somewhat uneven. Some of the longer ones performed by Benjamin Bagby were extremely well done. Some of the others seemed like they were mostly "Gregorian Chant in Old Norse." Bagby's performances seem to be generally well done elsewhere too (I highly recommend his performance of Beowulf on DVD).
All in all, it is a unique CD and one I would highly recommend to people interested in Norse myth.
 satisified customer Mar 11, 2008
I was looking for the early sounds of Iceland. My mother's family goes back to Ingolfur Arnarson the first settler of Iceland whose farm site later rose as the capital city, Reykjavik. His father Orn farmed in Norway so I figured the sounds he brought with him would be Nordic in origin. I was delighted to find this rendition of what Ingolfur and later settlers might be enjoying as music of their day.
Music for a Winter Night Feb 11, 2008
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.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Sings to my DNA Feb 17, 2007
While it's not unusual for me to have several different recordings of the same work by different performers, this is the only case in which I have two identical CDs, one for home and one for the car. I have to assume my Scots-Irish ancestry has some Nordic blood, as this music affects me powerfully. I haven't even read the program notes, so it can't be that the text's mesmerizing. This may not be everyone's cup of tea, but if mead is your drink, it's perfect.
2 of 3 found the following review helpful:
 Pretty Good Feb 01, 2007
There are some really awesome moments on this disc. All of the Voluspa segments, especially the final one describing Ragnarok, and The Song of the Mill are very well done. The stark atmosphere serves to not only enhance the singing portion, but really draw you into the song. The booklet that comes with the CD is essential, with beautiful translations of the poems that put Caroline Larrington's Poetic Edda to shame.
But there are also a lot of weak moments. I can't say that there is anything interesting in the instrumentals, which are fortunately few and far between. The Tale of Thrym is ok the first time through, but loses it's appeal very quickly. Odin's Rune Verses lack emotion compared to the rest of the pieces.
I also found the Italian Opera style singing a bit imposing. The rolling of the r's is sometime distracting, and I wondered the first time I heard it if that's what the language really sounds like. Of course, this is my first exposure to Icelandic, so I really couldn't tell you if its right or wrong, but the male singers do it much more than the females. Perhaps it just comes from their background as opera singers.
Overall, this is a good thing to have if you're at all interested in Norse/Icelandic/Viking mythology. If you're not, I think you can skip it.
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