The Hilliard Ensemble: A Hilliard Songbook – New Music For Voices (2 CD, APE)

Performer: The Hilliard Ensemble
Composer: John Casken, Morton Feldman, Michael Finnissy, Barry Guy, Piers Hellawell, Elizabeth Liddle, James MacMillan, Joanne Metcalf, Ivan Moody, Arvo Part, Paul Robinson, Veljo Tormis
Audio CD
Number of Discs: 2
Format: APE (image+cue)
Label: ECM
Size: 398 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes

Disc: 1
01. Un coup de des
02. Only
03. Endechas y canciones: No pueden dormir mis ojos
04. Endechas y canciones: Endechas a la muerte de Guillen Peraza
05. Endechas y canciones: III Pues mi pena veis
06. Endechas y canciones: IV Ojos de la mi senora
07. True Beautie
08. On Black And White
09. True Beautie
10. Emerodde
11. True Beautie
12. Lasent
13. True Beautie
14. By Falshood
15. Incantation
16. Kullervo’s Message

Disc: 2
01. Adoro te devote
02. …Here In Hiding…
03. And One Of The Pharisees
04. Summa
05. Whale Rant
06. Music For The Star Of The Sea
07. Stabant autem Iuxta crucem
08. Sharp Thorne
09. Canticum Canticorum I: I Surge, properea amica mea
10. Canticum Canticorum I: II Descendi in hortum meum
11. Canticum Canticorum I: III Ego dilecto meo

here in hiding

This is a fantastic collection of songs performed by one of the world’s most revered vocal ensembles. All of the pieces demand exceptional skill, and many of them are based on a style of music which may be described as traditionally religious. To my ear, some of the pieces resemble medieval music of 12th century Paris. As an introduction, Gordon Jones, baritone, briefly explains how the ensemble received the compositions. All but four of the pieces were written for the Hilliard Ensemble. Those which were not (Feldman, Finnissy, Pärt) “are here simply because of their own particular qualities, musical, textural or rhetorical, and because they have all featured in our recent concert programmes.” Each of the pieces has a short paragraph or two describing the work. Many of these are written by the composers themselves and they are immensely valuable in their explanations. I enjoy the Morton Feldman piece. It is a small setting for solo voice of Sonnet XXII from the Sonette an Orpheus by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) written when Feldman was 21 representing his earliest published work. If you are intersted in exceptional vocal music, a cross-section of twentieth century vocal compositions or in music which is peaceful and reflective, this CD will be interesting to you.