I don't think Sequentia claims to be doing a meticulously 'traditional' performance. There's a fair amount of uncertainty about what recitation/performance of an Eddic poem would have been like. But the mode of Rimur verse is a reasonable candidate, which is a far less elaborate production than Sequentia. With a few necessary metrical adaptations (I think, not certain on that) Rimur is Eisteinnson's method of Eddic singing/chanting. This approach is fairly characteristic of a great deal of religious recitation from around the world; extremely consistent intonation, varying tone just often enough to be a "song". Certain modern Catholic and Muslim liturgies do this, allowing lines of completely different length to be chanted consistently, and then the last syllable changing in pitch (E Spiritus Sanctus AMENNNNNN...).

To me, Sequentia simply falls flat artistically, as well. Although accolades should be given for incorporating swan bone flute, one of the earliest attested instruments.

To: norse_course@yahoogroups.com
From: lavrans@...
Date: Sat, 8 Mar 2008 12:35:36 -0500
Subject: Re: [norse_course] Re: elementary question/ The CD I have is:

The recordings one most often encounters of the Eddas are by the Medieval group
Sequentia. The leader of this group, Benjamin Bagby, has also performed and
recorded Beowulf.

There are two recordings available from amazon.com

Edda - An Icelandic Saga - Myths From Medieval Icland; Label: RCA ASIN:
B00000IFOM- 1 disc $7.97; this is a setting of selections from the mythological
lays.

The Rheingold Curse: A Germanic Saga of Greed and Revenge from the Medieval
Icelandic Edda- $41.98 # Number of Discs: 2
# Label: Marc Aurel Edition; # ASIN: B000063RVT Settings of the Heroic Lays-
temporarily out of stock, but may be available elsewhere- Google it!

This is very serious authentic period performance, not the 'vikings around the
campfire' style of Krauka and other groups. But they are the Eddaic poems.
They use lyre, harp, fiddle and a swan-bone flute. Sequentia has made a number
of excellent recordings of early Medieval music, but they may be something of
an acquired taste for some folks.

Other non-Eddaic Medieval stuff includes "Norske Middelalderballader " by
Kalenda Maya, For-X FRCD 82 It's hard to find and expensive, but very very good.
By the same group, under a different name, "Harpa" by Aurora Borealis; Label:
Grappa Records Catalog no.: GRCD4132

Hoopla!

Larry the M

Lee wrote:
> The CD I have is rune -song
> I am having trouble posting a reply without it getting garbled...
>
> Thank you all for feed back.. I also read some posts by another
> member asking questions about learning.. So there are some recordings
> I can get of the Eddas? Very good, I will look for that.
> On the other thread, there is a reference to Old English, versus Old
> Norse.
> I have the new "Beowulf" that has the poem in Anglo-Saxon (pretty
> sure about that) and english on the opposing page.
>
>
>
> Lee
>
>
>>Just out of curiosity, which CD have you got? You might also like to
>>listen to Haukur's recordings at the Norse Course homepage [
>>http://www.hi. is/~haukurth/ norse/ ], if you haven't already found
>
> them...
>
>
>
>
>
> A Norse funny farm, overrun by smart people.
>
> Homepage: http://www.hi. is/~haukurth/ norse/
>
> To escape from this funny farm try rattling off an e-mail to:
>
> norse_course- unsubscribe@ yahoogroups. com
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>


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