The Hilliard Ensemble: Il Cor Tristo

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Marsh plays to the Hilliards' strengths, throwing individual voices into high relief with chilling declamatory passages set against a mostly homophonic texture. The programme is driven by the... — BBC Music Magazine, April 2014, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 11th Nov 2013
Catalogue No: 4810637
Label: ECM
Series: New Series
Length: 53 minutes

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Pisano: Or vedi, Amor

Work length2:21

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

David James (countertenor), Rogers Covey-Crump (tenor), Steven Harrold (tenor), Gordon Jones (baritone)
The Hilliard Ensemble
Recorded: 2012-11-30
Recording Venue: Propstei St. Gerold

Pisano: Nova angeletta

Work length2:09

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

David James (countertenor), Rogers Covey-Crump (tenor), Steven Harrold (tenor), Gordon Jones (baritone)
The Hilliard Ensemble
Recorded: 2012-11-30
Recording Venue: Propstei St. Gerold

Pisano: Chiare, fresche, e dolci acque

Work length2:48

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

David James (countertenor), Rogers Covey-Crump (tenor), Steven Harrold (tenor), Gordon Jones (baritone)
The Hilliard Ensemble
Recorded: 2012-11-30
Recording Venue: Propstei St. Gerold

Marsh, R: Il Cor Tristo – I

Work length5:56

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

David James (countertenor), Rogers Covey-Crump (tenor), Steven Harrold (tenor), Gordon Jones (baritone)
The Hilliard Ensemble
Recorded: 2012-11-30
Recording Venue: Propstei St. Gerold

Arcadelt: Solo e pensoso

Work length3:20

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

David James (countertenor), Rogers Covey-Crump (tenor), Steven Harrold (tenor), Gordon Jones (baritone)
The Hilliard Ensemble
Recorded: 2012-11-30
Recording Venue: Propstei St. Gerold

Arcadelt: L’aer gravato

Work length1:42

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

David James (countertenor), Rogers Covey-Crump (tenor), Steven Harrold (tenor), Gordon Jones (baritone)
The Hilliard Ensemble
Recorded: 2012-11-30
Recording Venue: Propstei St. Gerold

Arcadelt: Tutt’il dì piango

Work length3:46

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

David James (countertenor), Rogers Covey-Crump (tenor), Steven Harrold (tenor), Gordon Jones (baritone)
The Hilliard Ensemble
Recorded: 2012-11-30
Recording Venue: Propstei St. Gerold

Marsh, R: Il Cor Tristo – II

Work length5:54

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

David James (countertenor), Rogers Covey-Crump (tenor), Steven Harrold (tenor), Gordon Jones (baritone)
The Hilliard Ensemble
Recorded: 2012-11-30
Recording Venue: Propstei St. Gerold

Pisano: Si è debile il filo

Work length3:23

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

David James (countertenor), Rogers Covey-Crump (tenor), Steven Harrold (tenor), Gordon Jones (baritone)
The Hilliard Ensemble
Recorded: 2012-11-30
Recording Venue: Propstei St. Gerold

Pisano: Ne la stagion

Work length4:50

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

David James (countertenor), Rogers Covey-Crump (tenor), Steven Harrold (tenor), Gordon Jones (baritone)
The Hilliard Ensemble
Recorded: 2012-11-30
Recording Venue: Propstei St. Gerold

Pisano: Che debb’io far?

Work length4:10

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

David James (countertenor), Rogers Covey-Crump (tenor), Steven Harrold (tenor), Gordon Jones (baritone)
The Hilliard Ensemble
Recorded: 2012-11-30
Recording Venue: Propstei St. Gerold

Marsh, R: Il Cor Tristo – III

Work length12:44

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

David James (countertenor), Rogers Covey-Crump (tenor), Steven Harrold (tenor), Gordon Jones (baritone)
The Hilliard Ensemble
Recorded: 2012-11-30
Recording Venue: Propstei St. Gerold

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One of the world’s finest vocal chamber groups, the Hilliard Ensemble, is unrivalled for its formidable reputation in the fields of both early and new music. The programme featured here - released to mark the beginning of the Hilliard Ensemble’s 40th Anniversary season celebrations - exemplifies its distinctive style and highly developed musicianship in both repertoires.

At its heart is a work commissioned by the ensemble from British contemporary composer Roger Marsh: Il Cor Tristo, a setting of cantos 32 and 33 from Dante’s Inferno, which deftly blends Renaissance techniques with a modern idiom. Marsh’s composition frames madrigals by 16th century composers Bernardo Pisano (1490-1548) and Jacques Arcadelt (c 1507-1568). As so often with the Hilliard singers, the transitions between “old” and “new” are seamless, and the album unfolds like a larger composition. Credit to Roger Marsh, who notes that his “primary concern has been to keep Dante’s words clear at all times, and thus you will find in this contemporary music many devices more usually encountered in music of much earlier times.”

Marsh’s Il Cor Tristo was premiered by the Hilliard Ensemble in Perugia, Italy in 2008. The version here was recorded, along with the Pisano and Acadelt pieces, in November 2012, at the St Gerold monastery in Austria, location for outstanding Hilliard recordings including the collaborations with Jan Garbarek (Officium, Mnemosyne, Officium Novum), the Bach project with Christoph Poppen (Morimur), Arvo Pärt’s Da Pacem Domine, as well as motets of Guillaume de Machaut, 16th century English music (Audivi Voci) and more.

Reviews

April 2014

Marsh plays to the Hilliards' strengths, throwing individual voices into high relief with chilling declamatory passages set against a mostly homophonic texture. The programme is driven by the emotion and drama of its texts, which the quartet articulates with urgent lucidity.

January 2014

Apart from the very English-sounding Italian, the performances are as dramatic and intense as one could ask.

27th January 2014

The booklet prints the section of La Divina Commedia used both in Italian and English, so you can have fun following the narrative and seeing how Marsh characterises each portion, the Hilliards responding with élan in their variety of colour and articulation...This is a highly successful programme with all-round appeal and an inventive concept.

23rd November 2013

Nothing sums up the bold approach to repertoire better than this CD...Grim words; haunting music; masterly performance.

1st December 2013

[Marsh] sets large tracts of Dante in an imaginative recitative-led style that demands close reading of the texts, while the flowing, harmonious lines of Arcadelt provide perfect contrast. There is some bloom missing now from the sound, but the Hilliard's performances are as skilfully moulded as ever.

New York Times 15th January 2014

a stark yet seductive record

Offer,The Hilliard Ensemble: Il Cor Tristo

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