Officium

Lovely pieces of work, I don't know how I missed this.

I simply love this music and once again, I have to express my thanks to Radio 4 "Front Row" for bringing this music to my attention I could not believe the melody which unfolded the first time I listened to the Hilliard Ensemble accompanied by Jan Garbarek and the way in which they were able to complement their different styles and medium to harmonise so incredibly well. I like to think that I enjoy a quite diverse selection of music and have even tapped my toes to some of the sounds contained on my son's "now 89" album, but once again, I have discovered that there is so much more to appreciation of music which does not belong a a particular genre. There are some really nice reviews regarding this album, which are far better than mine, all I can say is that I regret waiting 20 years to listen to it and will never forget the haunting melody which accompanied the introduction via "Front Row". If you have doubts regarding whether to purchase or not, search the BBC archives for "Front Row" on 14th November 2014 and listen to how they first met. Breathtaking!

Unusual music - generally extremely soothing - a lone saxophone soars above medieval chants, 15th and early 16th century choral music. Heard the first track on this cd on a jazz programme on BBC4. Was completely overwhelmed by the wonderful sound and contrast between the vocal and the instrumental. Particularly like tracks 1 and 5. Some of the choral music minus the sax, is a little ponderous. Have loaned the cd to my pilates teacher. She may use it as very quiet background music to accompany our gentle moves!! If you need to chill out and relax give this disc a listen.

Interesting! I’m not sure that this will become one of my most regularly played discs, but there are some nice sounds & harmonies here

Loved this cd. Beautiful tracks, so unusual I think, just a personal thing, thought provoking. Well worth owning

Very calming

I first heard a track from this cd on the radio and had to get the cd . It doesn’t disappoint the music is wonderful . Wish I’d heard it sooner . Magical !

Incredible piece of music, owned my first copy of this CD since 1990 but scratched it! Bought again as it’s just a magical piece of music.

I can't imagine how someone with a passionate dedication to pure medieval and renaissance music might feel about this - but who cares? It is absolutely beautiful music. For most of the album Garbarek adds a pleasant, unobtrusive shine to the music: unobtrusive is crucial, because the music can survive without him. If he gets too active - he does a couple of times in the latter part of the album, I feel - he draws too much attention to himself, detracting from the beauty of the original music. If you are unfamiliar with Garbarek, you should know that he's not jazz in the way most people think of jazz. There is no swing or bop to his mature music (there's a bit of bop in his early stuff). Many people feel that his music isn't even really jazz, arguing that in temperament it is more similar to new age music. I'd argue his music is more jazzy than people realize, that it's something like bebop at 1/64 speed - or at least 1/16 speed. Some people wonder what the point of that is, but no one can argue that his music is lovely and creative. Who should buy this music? Anyone who enjoys Garbarek's other stuff, anyone who likes chant and is willing to tolerate some innovation, and anyone who likes new age music. The new age music crowd in particular needs to get this because unlike a lot of music in that line, you can actually play this over and over, paying close attention each time, without numbing your brain. Incidently, I came down a bit hard on the ECM label in my review of their mediocre album by Stephan Micus entitled Athos . But this album (Garbarek in general) is a good example of ECM at its best. If you're not familiar with the ECM label (I guess a lot of people don't pay attention to that kind of thing) then get this album so that it can make a good first impression on you.

Un disco inigualable.

Il cd che mi ha più impressionato in assoluto. Ma non piace a tutti. Dinamica impressionante.

Très bel album. Le son de Jan Garbarek se mêle parfaitement avec les chants grégoriens atteignant presque lez divin...Album à découvrir d'urgence.

I see another reviewer has used the term I was about to post: "hauntingly beautiful". But it's perfectly fitting. You might not think a combination of four voices and a saxophone "singing" old plainsong and chants would be that interesting, but put the first track on your CD player and you'll be convinced. The saxophone soars over the vocals, sounding like a word-less voice, weaving in and out of the song. The effect is beautiful, haunting, endearing, and engrossing. There's quite a variety of music here, some more outstanding that others, but the CD as a whole is magical to listen to quietly (especially in the dark). I first played this CD one cold winter night with a fire going, and a glass of my favorite tipple, and was swept up in the music. The recording is typical ECM: wonderfully engineered. The Hilliard are as good as ever, and Garberek is a master of his instruments. I didn't have very high expectations for this CD when I ordered it, but this is one case where I was happy to be proven very wrong. This is a wonderful CD. Listen and disengage...this may well be one of my favorite purchases of the year.