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Thy Kiss of a Divine Nature: The Contemporary Perotin.

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Thy Kiss of a Divine Nature: The Contemporary Perotin. The Hilliard Ensemble. Directed by Uli Aumuller. [Munich]: ArtHaus Musik, 2005. 100 695. $45.99.

Despite the fact that the Hilliard Ensemble is given top billing in the title, this really is not a performance DVD, but rather a more abstract film that addresses the way contemporary culture directly affects interpretation of Catholic dogma, art, architecture, and music. Director Uli Aumuller ties all of this together with one overarching thread; that performances of Perotin historically have reflected the culture of the time of the performance and not the culture of the time of Perotin. This unifying theme provides a creative springboard for Aumuller who presents a series of four separate narratives that are woven visually, aurally, and philosophically. The resulting film is one in which the performance of Perotin's music clearly reflects the culture of the first years of the third millennium rather than the first years of the second.

Aumuller, in following the unifying theme makes little attempt to create any sort of authentic context for the performance of two-, three-, and four-part French Gothic polyphony, The filming does not take place in the cathedral of Notre Dame, as would be expected, but instead in a...

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