Jan Garbarek / The Hilliard Ensemble - Officium (1994)

Been giving this a fresh appraisal, so why not turn it into a post.  In a quirk of tapping in to the listening moods of the time, Jan Garbarek spontaneously joining in at a Hilliards rehearsal turned into one of ECM's breakout hits with the buying public, so the story goes.  There were sequels, but this first collaborative album between the early music singers and saxophonist remains a very 90s phenomenon all of its own.  So how does it hold up these days?

Officium certainly sounds breathtaking.  You'd expect nothing less from an ECM New Series recording of the Hilliard Ensemble, taking advantage of the resonances of the St. Gerold priory in Grosses Walsertal, Austria.  Flitting in and out is the ahistorical, but somehow seeming like a natural added voice, sound of Garbarek's saxes, equally attuned to the natural reverb.  An hour-plus immersion in this sound-world is definitely a sublime experience.

In terms of material, the album flits through the Hilliards' repertoire from the 12th to 16th century, giving a nice balance of starker, plainer material (including the odd solo spotlight) with more complex and interweaved voicings.  Garbarek doesn't overpower the singers, but finds subtle harmonies and drones with which to enhance the music.  The end result might be an early vocal music purist's nightmare, but for anyone willing to take the chance on this hybrid, as soon as you acclimatise to it it's a delight.  The only thing I sometimes wonder is if 77 minutes is a bit too much of the same thing for a single sitting, but on those occasions the first reprise of Parce Mihi Domine is a handy staging post to focus on one half of a double-album.  Overall, beautiful stuff that still stands up.  Must get hold of the other albums someday.

link

pw: sgtg

Jan Garbarek at SGTG:

Electronic Sonata For Souls Loved By Nature

Othello Ballet Suite

Trip To Prillarguri

Listen To The Silence

Afric Pepperbird

Sart
Triptykon
Popofoni

Witchi-Tai-To

Dansere
Solstice: Sounds And Shadows
Sol De Meio Dia
Paths, Prints
Song For Everyone
Making Music

Neighbourhood

The Hilliard Ensemble at SGTG:

Perotin

The Lamentations Of Jeremiah

Codex Speciálník

Transeamus