On this fascinating recording, Paul Hillier leads the Orlando Consort and the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir in the world premiere recording of Scattered Rhymes - a vibrant and powerful new work by Tarik O'Regan (b.1978). O'Regan, a two-time British Composer Award winner, was educated at Oxford University and completed his postgraduate studies at Cambridge, where he was subsequently appointed Composer in Residence at Corpus Christi College.
In Scattered Rhymes (2006), the composer combines two fourteenth-century texts that toy with the ambiguities of intertwining sensuous and divine love. To reinforce the work's medieval connections, Scattered Rhymes is designed to be framed or paired with Guilliaume de Machaut's Messe de Notre Dame (circa 1364). this seminal work is brilliantly performed here by the Orlando Consort. Completing this inventive program are two motets: Ave Regina Coelorum by Guillaume Dufay (c.1400-1474) and the haunting Super Flumina by Gavin Bryars (b.1943).
Concert Reviews:
"Stunning! (...)glorious voices, tunneling through medieval polyphony's horizontal maze with forthright skill and beauty. (...) O'Regan's gift for lyric flight seems boundless." - The Times, London
"O'Regan wove the most magical and beguiling spell with the voices, delicately overlapping and layering the vocal lines of the consort quartet and choir, and building them up to produce the most brilliant and stunning sound." - The Scotsman
"The surround sonics are stunning. Both soloists and the distinctly layered choir emerge from the huge, reverberant, breathy silence of Edinburgh's Greyfriars Church, rising up and out to its vaulted ceilings and marble recesses with plangency and purity." - Mark Lehman, The Absolute Sound, October 2008, Issue 185
Musicians:
Orlando Consort
Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir
Paul Hillier, conductor
Features:
• DSD
Selections:
Tarik O'Regan (b.1978)
1-3. Scattered Rhymes
Guillaume de Machaut (c.1300-1377)
4-9. Messe de Notre Dame
Guillaume Dufay (c.1400-1474)
10. Ave Regina Coelorum
Gavin Bryars (b.1943)
11. Super Flumina
Guillaume de Machaut
12. Douce dame jolie
Tarik O'Regan
13. Virelai: Douce dame jolie
Total playing time, 61'38
On the Orlando Consort:
Since its formation in 1988, the award-winning Orlando Consort has been hailed as the most imaginative champion of vocal music of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Collaborating with leading musicologists, the Consort has premiered repertoire unheard in modern times and set new standards of performance in matters of ensemble, and has appeared extensively throughout Europe, in Russia, and South America; it now records exclusively for Harmonia Mundia USA.
"An esteemed name on the early music circuit." - The Herald (Scotland)
On Paul Hillier:
Esteemed choral conductor Paul Hillier hails from Dorset, England, and studied at London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama. His career has embraced singing, conducting and writing about music. Early on he was the founding director of the Hilliard Ensemble, and subsequently founded Theatre of Voices. His recordings - over a hundred CDs including seven solo recitals - have earned worldwide acclaim and won prestigious prizes. In 2006, Hillier was awarded and O.B.E. for services to choral music. In 2007, he received teh Order of the White Star of Estonia and was awarded a Grammy for his recording of Arvo Part's Da Pacem (HMSAM7401).
"Paul Hillier is arguably the finest living conductor of spiritual choral music, a conductor with a complete mastery of the technique of singing and a consummate understanding of the transcendence of music." - All Music Guide
In Scattered Rhymes (2006), the composer combines two fourteenth-century texts that toy with the ambiguities of intertwining sensuous and divine love. To reinforce the work's medieval connections, Scattered Rhymes is designed to be framed or paired with Guilliaume de Machaut's Messe de Notre Dame (circa 1364). this seminal work is brilliantly performed here by the Orlando Consort. Completing this inventive program are two motets: Ave Regina Coelorum by Guillaume Dufay (c.1400-1474) and the haunting Super Flumina by Gavin Bryars (b.1943).
Concert Reviews:
"Stunning! (...)glorious voices, tunneling through medieval polyphony's horizontal maze with forthright skill and beauty. (...) O'Regan's gift for lyric flight seems boundless." - The Times, London
"O'Regan wove the most magical and beguiling spell with the voices, delicately overlapping and layering the vocal lines of the consort quartet and choir, and building them up to produce the most brilliant and stunning sound." - The Scotsman
"The surround sonics are stunning. Both soloists and the distinctly layered choir emerge from the huge, reverberant, breathy silence of Edinburgh's Greyfriars Church, rising up and out to its vaulted ceilings and marble recesses with plangency and purity." - Mark Lehman, The Absolute Sound, October 2008, Issue 185
Musicians:
Orlando Consort
Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir
Paul Hillier, conductor
Features:
• DSD
Selections:
Tarik O'Regan (b.1978)
1-3. Scattered Rhymes
Guillaume de Machaut (c.1300-1377)
4-9. Messe de Notre Dame
Guillaume Dufay (c.1400-1474)
10. Ave Regina Coelorum
Gavin Bryars (b.1943)
11. Super Flumina
Guillaume de Machaut
12. Douce dame jolie
Tarik O'Regan
13. Virelai: Douce dame jolie
Total playing time, 61'38
On the Orlando Consort:
Since its formation in 1988, the award-winning Orlando Consort has been hailed as the most imaginative champion of vocal music of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Collaborating with leading musicologists, the Consort has premiered repertoire unheard in modern times and set new standards of performance in matters of ensemble, and has appeared extensively throughout Europe, in Russia, and South America; it now records exclusively for Harmonia Mundia USA.
"An esteemed name on the early music circuit." - The Herald (Scotland)
On Paul Hillier:
Esteemed choral conductor Paul Hillier hails from Dorset, England, and studied at London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama. His career has embraced singing, conducting and writing about music. Early on he was the founding director of the Hilliard Ensemble, and subsequently founded Theatre of Voices. His recordings - over a hundred CDs including seven solo recitals - have earned worldwide acclaim and won prestigious prizes. In 2006, Hillier was awarded and O.B.E. for services to choral music. In 2007, he received teh Order of the White Star of Estonia and was awarded a Grammy for his recording of Arvo Part's Da Pacem (HMSAM7401).
"Paul Hillier is arguably the finest living conductor of spiritual choral music, a conductor with a complete mastery of the technique of singing and a consummate understanding of the transcendence of music." - All Music Guide
