Jan Garbarek & The Hilliard Ensemble Officium (2 LP)

'Officium' is a collaborative effort between vocal group and early music purveyors the Hilliard Ensemble and virtuoso saxophonist Jan Garbarek. Utilising the anachronistic and uncanny aesthetic of the Hilliard Ensemble, 'Officium' attains a cerebral, devotional sound, as if free jazz could be enjoyed at a sonorous church service. The record was recorded in a monastery in Austria.
The appearance of this audiophile version, pressed on 180g vinyl, also marks the 30th anniversary of ECM New Series and the 40th anniversary of The Hilliard Ensemble. The vocal quartet and saxophonist Jan Garbarek also recorded two further albums, 'Mnemosyne' and 'Officium novum' and have given countless concerts around the world over the past two decades. Before The Hilliard Ensemble disbands at the end of 2014, they and Garbarek make a farewell tour, performing many more Officium concerts in Britain and Europe.
Jan Grabarek – almost a showcase of the sound of the Munich label ECM – has recorded an album with the classical vocal quartet The Hilliard Ensemble.
The spacious and austere "Officium", which consisted of medieval hymns encrusted with Garbarek's solos, was a great success.
The British Evening Standard wrote that the album is filled with "the most beautiful music ever recorded".
The Herald Tribune called it "extremely soothing, lifting the spirit to the heavens", the New York Observer wrote about "the abolition of all divisions between jazz and classical, the sphere of the sacred and the profane, early and contemporary music".
"Successfully transcends both time and style... enchanting." Gramophone

• Double LP
• 180g Vinyl
• Recorded at Propstei St. Gerold, September 1993
• Gatefold jacket
• Made in Germany

• Jan Garbarek, soprano & tenor Saxophone

The Hilliard Ensemble

• David James, countertenor
• Rogers Covey-Crump, tenor
• John Potter, tenor
• Gordon Jones, baritone