Arvo Pärt

Ever since Jan Garbarek and the Hilliard Ensemble first came together musically in 1993, their collaborative music-making has consistently led to surprising, highly innovative turns. The groundbreaking album "Officium," with Garbarek's saxophone acting as the freely shaping "fifth voice" of the ensemble, immediately conveyed a strong impression of the musical versatility and emotional power of this collaboration. With their double album "Mnemosyne," released in 1998, they continued this story, expanding the Renaissance repertoire with works of both ancient and new music. Now, after another decade of shared experiences, a third album from Garbarek/Hilliard is here, which, like its outstanding predecessors, was recorded in the Austrian monastery of St. Gerold with Manfred Eicher as producer. Aptly titled, "Officium Novum" stands for musical continuity, but also for venturing into new territories. Following the spirit of "Occident/Orient," the album turns its gaze eastward, focusing on Armenia and the compositions and arrangements of Komitas. The Hilliards studied Komitas' works, rooted in medieval church music and the bardic tradition of the Caucasus, during their visits to Armenia, and Garbarek is inspired by the moods of the music to play with particular intensity. On their journey through ages and countries, the musicians have gathered an astonishing variety of compositions: "Officium Novum" makes stops in Yerevan and Byzantium, in Russia, France, and Spain – and everything fits into the album's dramaturgical flow because the individual works are integrated into a larger compositional framework. "Hays hark nviranats ukhti" and "Surb, surb" belong to the Divine Liturgy of the Holy Mass, which Komitas Vardapet (1869–1935) arranged on various occasions and for different ensembles. The versions heard here are based on the arrangements for male voices created in Constantinople in 1914/15. "Hays hark nviranats ukhti" is a hymn traditionally sung at the beginning of the Mass, while the censer is swung. "Surb, surb" (Holy, holy) corresponds to the "Sanctus" of the Latin Mass. "Ov zarmanali" is a hymn for the Baptism of Christ (Sunday after Epiphany), sung after the blessing of the water, and "Sirt im sasani" is a hymn from the "Votnlva" (the ritual foot washing on Maundy Thursday). These works by Komitas date from between 1910 and 1915, yet their origins reach back to antiquity. As a music ethnologist and progressive composer/philosopher, Komitas not only showed that Armenian church music had developed from folk music but also consciously used folk music styles to create a new art music for his era. Other works in the "Officium Novum" program also bridge centuries; in the concentrated approach of the Garbarek/Hilliard Ensemble, medieval and contemporary music merge into a characteristic group sound. Jan Garbarek contributes two compositions. "Allting finns" is a setting of the poem "Den Döde" (The Dead) by the Swede Pär Lagerkvist (1891–1974), while "We are the stars," last heard on Garbarek's album "Rites," is based on a poem by the North American Passamaquoddy Indians. The longest piece is the thirteen-minute "Litany," which creatively brings together spiritual and musical influences: The "Otche Nash" from the Old Orthodox tradition is preceded by a fragment of the "Litany" by Nikolai N. Kedrow. Kedrow (1871–1940) was a student of Rimsky-Korsakov, co-founder of the Kedrow Quartet, a vocal ensemble that performed under the direction of Sergei Diaghilev, and the originator of numerous compositions and song arrangements that have found their way into the repertoire of Orthodox choirs. Arvo Pärt's "Most Holy Mother of God," written in 2003 for the Hilliard Ensemble, is heard here in immaculate a cappella clarity. The Hilliards have convincingly championed Pärt's music and, in turn, have certainly been touched by the simplicity of his compositional art. The Byzantine "Svete tihij" (Joyful Light), composed in the third century, is one of the oldest Christian hymns and once accompanied the entrance of priests into the church and the lighting of the evening lamp at sunset. The Spanish "Tres morillas" from the 16th-century "Cancionero de Palacio" spreads a different kind of light and, with its dance-like rhythm, underscores the story of a lost love. Perotin's "Alleluia. Nativitas" is a new version of a piece already included on "Mnemosyne" – the freedom of interpretation demonstrates how much the project as a whole has grown since its beginnings in the ECM New Series. As for the saxophone, it is offered an exceptionally clear, unobstructed context from an improvisational perspective, providing ample opportunity to experience Jan Garbarek's creativity. Garbarek still approaches the music freely; he improvises with the soloists, sets flickering counterpoints, weaves into the vocal fabric, extends threads, and thus contributes to renewed proof of what the English Evening Standard once called "some of the most beautiful acoustic music ever made." The album concludes with George Seferis' poem "Only a little more" from the 1935 cycle "Mythistorema," read by Bruno Ganz, which was previously heard on the ECM album "Wenn Wasser wäre" with poems by T.S. Eliot and Seferis.