This is the Hilliard Ensemble’s swan-song on record before they
retire at the end of 2014: between October and December 2014 they are
touring Germany and Austria with saxophonist Jan Garbarek in a series
of
Officium concerts, including two short stops at the Temple
Church in London (14 and 16 November), one at Ely Cathedral (15 November)
and terminating on 6 December in King’s College Chapel, Cambridge.
On their own, without Garbarek, they will perform at St Mary Magdalene,
Taunton (10 December), The Sage, Gateshead (17 December) and Wigmore Hall,
London (20 December). Full details on their
website.
They were founded in 1974 by Paul Hillier and others; of the original
team only David James is still there 30 years later. I’ve followed
their progress with interest since the early days when they recorded for
Saga (a very promising debut on
Popular Music from the Time of Henry
VIII, Saga 5444), then for EMI, subsequently re-badged as Virgin
Records and more recently as Erato: I recommended as Bargain of the Month
a collection of their recordings for that label of Franco-Flemish music
(6025322) as recently as
Download
News 2014/10. If you are not a fan of downloading, the CD set can
be found online for under £20.
They also made successful recordings for Harmonia Mundi, many still available
on their budget D’Abord label, Channel Classics, Oehms and Coro,
but their recent output has been for the ECM label. They have recorded
mainly music from the renaissance, but with distinguished forays into
that of Arvo Pärt.
There are two possible misconceptions to dispel. Because the Ensemble
have made several recent recordings with Jan Garbarek’s
ad lib
saxophone embellishments, you may think this is one such – I did,
because the publicity material that came with it referred to the series
of recordings which they made together under the general heading
Officium:
ECM 1525/4453692, due to be reissued on two vinyl LPs in Autumn 2014,
ECM1700-01/4651222, 2 CDs and ECM2125/4763855 –
review.
(In each case UK purchasers use the number beginning with 4). Those are
beautiful recordings but I have to admit that I was pleased to discover
that the Hilliard Ensemble are on their own this time: somewhere alongside
the beauty of
Officium there’s a melancholy that always
leaves me feeling a bit depressed.
The second disclaimer concerns the word ‘carol’ in the title:
this is not just for Christmas, though some of the music is associated
with that season – the season rather than the day. The opening
triplum
and
duplum and the following English-texted work are for the
feast of Thomas Becket, 28 December until it was abolished by Henry VIII,
a monarch who was not too keen on commemorating an act of resistance to
one of his royal predecessors. Incidentally, the anonymous librettist
seems to have had a vivid imagination: Becket was murdered in his own
Cathedral at Canterbury, not
cesus in Doveria, slain at Dover.
Perhaps the fact that the monk Richard of Dover arranged Becket’s
funeral and became his successor, or the fact that some historians connect
Henry II’s fortification of Dover with Becket’s martyrdom
had something to do with the error.
The original meaning of the word
carole relates to a kind of
round dance and the term was applied in the Middle Ages to music, with
or without words, on any theme, religious or secular.
Ah, my dear
Son relates to the crucifixion and
Anna mater is in honour
of the mother of the Virgin Mary. By the end of the period represented
here, the transitional era between medieval and renaissance, such music
was more often termed a motet, hence the second part of the subtitle.
Some pieces do refer to the Nativity (
Lullay, lullow, track 5;
There is no rose, track 7;
Ecce quod natura, track 10)
or to the Virgin Mary (
O pulcherrima, track 6, text from the
Song of Songs;
Stella Cæli, track 8) but these are by no
means the majority.
What we have here dates from the late 14
th and 15
th
centuries, a period of great flowering when English music was highly regarded
throughout Western Europe. Everything here represents a stage in the development
of polyphony, with works in two, three and four parts. Much of it has
been recorded before, often frequently, but some of it is unfamiliar:
there seems to be just one other recording of the opening
Thomas gemma
Cantuariæ, one of the so-called
Worcester Fragments
(Orlando Consort, Amon Ra CDSAR059); similarly for
Saint Thomas honour
we (Orlando Consort again, Metronome METCD1001).
Clangat tuba (track 3), another piece in honour of St Thomas
Becket, in Latin and Middle English, features on a Gothic Voices recording,
The Spirits of England and France – 4 (Hyperion CDH55284
–
review
and
Download
News September 2010: Reissue of the Month). The comparison highlights
the difference between two performing styles: Gothic Voices brisk and
business-like, the Hilliards slower and more reverent. Both are appropriate
but I have to state a preference for the brisker style of Christopher
Page’s team on Hyperion – this is music of celebration and
their time of 5:13 seems to me to get the mood just about right.
There’s another consideration here: it’s not just the tempo
on Hyperion that is brisker, the tone is lighter, too. I’ve mentioned
the edge of melancholy that I find with the Hilliards’
Officium
collaborations and that’s partly inherent in the voices as well
as in the plangent tones which Jan Garbarek weaves around them. Add the
fact that the Hyperion CD comes at budget price (around £5.50, with
downloads in mp3 and lossless sound available from
hyperion-records.co.uk
for just £4.99) and contains a more informative booklet, also available
with the download, and it joins the whole of this Hyperion series as a
must-have for fans of late-medieval and early Tudor polyphony. The quality
of the Hyperion booklet, even at budget price – something for which
the label is renowned – puts the single page of notes in the ECM
equivalent to shame.
There is no rose (track 7) is much recorded. Once again the Hilliards
sound a little plangent by comparison with Alamire, directed by David
Skinner (
Deo Gracias Anglia, Obsidian CD709), a Cambridge ensemble
performing music partly from a collection associated with that University.
I preferred Alamire’s more direct style, with harp accompaniment
– unobtrusive except when it’s allowed a little space on its
own between stanzas.
Cornysh the Elder’s
Ave Maria (track 11) comes from the
Eton Choir Book. It receives a fine performance here but there are rival
versions to consider, of which I chose for comparison that by The Tallis
Scholars (Gimell, most recently and most inexpensively on
Renaissance
Radio, CDGIM212 – Recording of the Month:
review
and
Download
News 2013/3: Bargain of the Month). The Scholars and the Hilliards
take the music at about the same pace and I very much enjoyed both. Even
if you bought
Renaissance Radio – essentially an inexpensive
showcase of the Scholars’ various recordings – on the strength
of reviews from John Quinn and myself don’t let that deter you from
the new ECM recording.
Ah, gentle Jesu (track 14), by the composer whom we know only
as Sheryngham – no first name, no dates – also features in
the Eton Choir Book and the piece has been recorded by The Sixteen on
one of their CDs of music from that collection (Coro COR16012 –
review
and
review
– or the 5-CD-for-4 set COR16040). This time it’s The Sixteen
– often faster in music of this period than other ensembles –
who, surprisingly, are slower, at 11:00 as against the Hilliards’
8:27. There’s no sense that Harry Christophers allows the music
to drag on Coro, but this time it’s the more forthright performance
on the new ECM album that makes the stronger impression of two very fine
performances and makes a very fine end to their final recording.
Even where I have expressed a preference for another recording or thought
the Hilliard Ensemble on a par with others, it’s certainly not my
intention to dismiss their performance. All in all, though I recommend
some or all of The Sixteen’s recordings of the music of the Eton
Choir Book – a very important series of recordings of this repertoire,
more recently supplemented by recordings from Christ Church, Oxford, on
Avie – Gothic Voices’ (Hyperion) and The Tallis Scholars’
(Gimell) recordings of music of this period, I greatly enjoyed this new
well-recorded programme. The performances are never mere also-rans and
in some cases they even trump the distinguished competition. Only the
brevity of documentation in the booklet is a serious cause for reservation.
Brian Wilson
Track Listing
Anonymous
Thomas gemma Cantuariæ primula/Thomas cesus in Doveria [2:39]
St. Thomas honour we [3:19]
Clangat tuba [6:38]
John PLUMMER (1410-1483)
Anna mater [6:52]
Anonymous
Lullay, I saw [2:41]
John PLUMMER
O pulcherrima mulierum [3:17]
Anonymous
There is no rose [4:43]
Walter LAMBE (1450/51-c.1499)
Stella Cæli [6:40]
Anonymous
Marvel not Joseph [4:45]
Ecce quod natura [4:37]
William CORNYSH ‘the Elder’ (c.1468-1523)
Ave Maria, Mater Dei [2:58]
Anonymous
Ah! My dear Son [7:12]
Sancta mater gracie/Dou way Robin [2:36]
SHERYNGHAM (dates ?)
Ah, gentle Jesu [8:27]
