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Hilliard Ensemble

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

The Hilliard Ensemble was a British male vocal quartet, founded in 1974 and named after the Elizabethan miniature painter Nicholas Hilliard. The founders were Paul Hillier, Errol Girdlestone, Paul Elliott and David James. The line-up was flexible until Hillier left in 1990. After that David James, Rogers Covey-Crump, John Potter and Gordon Jones formed the core, with Potter replaced by Steven Harrold in 1998. In 2014 the group ceased to exist.

Music and breakthrough

The quartet sang mainly music from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, but also contemporary works. It often worked with the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt and included pieces by John Cage, Gavin Bryars, Giya Kancheli and Heinz Holliger in its concerts. In the 1980s an extensive series of recordings appeared on EMI, and after that mainly on the label ECM. In 1994, when interest in Gregorian chant was at its height, Officium was released, a unique collaboration with the Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek. It became one of the best-selling ECM releases and reached the charts in several European countries. The sequel Mnemosyne followed in 1999 and Officium Novum in 2010.

Influence

Of Pérotin, the composer from Paris around 1200, the quartet sang Viderunt omnes and Sederunt principes. This is polyphonic music from the time of the cathedral of Notre-Dame, in which long notes in the low voices are crowned by melodic lines. The ensemble made medieval sounds accessible to a wide audience.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Viderunt omnes by Pérotin. Notice how the low voices hold very long notes while the higher voices move above them.

Discography

Studio albums

See also

Categories: ArtistsOrganum and the Notre-Dame school