Transeamus The Hilliard Ensemble

• 1 Thomas gemma Cantuariae / Thomas cesus in Doveria 02:39
• 2 St. Thomas Honour We 03:19
• 3 Clangat Tuba 06:39
• 4 Anna mater 06:53
• 5 Lullay, I Saw 02:41
• 6 O pulcherrima mulierum 03:17
• 7 There Is No Rose 04:43
• 8 Stella caeli 06:40
• 9 Marvel Not Joseph 04:46
• 10 Ecce quod natura 04:38
• 11 Ave Maria, mater Dei 02:59
• 12 Ah! My Dear Son 07:12
• 13 Sancta mater gracie / Dou Way Robin 02:36
• 14 Ah, Gentle Jesu 08:28
• Total Runtime 01:07:30

Info for Transeamus

Having recorded more than 20 albums for ECM since the mid-’80s, The Hilliard Ensemble caps its discography before retirement with a final release: Transeamus, a collection of polyphony – in two, three and four parts – from 15th-century England. The British vocal ensemble’s very first ECM recording included music from the court of Henry VIII, and Transeamus brings their odyssey through the ages full circle.

The album includes many of the group’s favorite pieces from this era, including previously unrecorded items from its concert programs by the likes of John Plummer, Walter Lambe and William Cornysh. More of the album’s works are by composers rendered anonymous by time, yet all of this music is rich with enduring personality. Tenor David James says: “The sweet harmonies might appear uncomplicated, but this transparency of sound creates a cumulative effect that is mesmerizing. The album ends with ‘Ah gentle Jesu.’ We know the composer’s name, Sheryngham, but virtually nothing else. On paper, it is a simple dialogue between Christ on the cross and a penitent sinner; however, the intensity of the music is so overwhelming that, from our experience in concert, both listener and performer are left in stunned silence.”

The Hilliard Ensemble
David James, countertenor
Rogers Covey-Crump, tenor
Steven Harrold, tenor
Gordon Jones, baritone

Recorded November 2012 at Propstei St. Gerold
Engineered by Peter Laenger
Produced by Manfred Eicher

The Hilliard Ensemble Unrivalled for its formidable reputation in the fields of both early and new music, The Hilliard Ensemble is one of the world's finest vocal chamber groups. Its distinctive style and highly developed musicianship engage the listener as much in medieval and renaissance repertoire as in works specially written by living composers.

The group’s standing as an early music ensemble dates from the 1980s with its series of successful recordings for EMI (many of which have been re-released on Virgin) and its own mail-order record label hilliard LIVE, now available on the Coro label; but from the start it has paid equal attention to new music. The 1988 recording of Arvo Pärt’s Passio began a fruitful relationship with both Pärt and the Munich-based record company ECM, and was followed by their recording of Pärt’s Litany. The group has recently commissioned other composers from the Baltic States, including Veljo Tormis and Erkki-Sven Tüür, adding to a rich repertoire of new music from Gavin Bryars, Heinz Holliger, John Casken, James MacMillan, Elena Firsova and many others.

In addition to many a cappella discs, collaborations for ECM include most notably Officium and Mnemosyne with the Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek, a partnershipwhich continues to develop and renew itself, and Morimur with the German Baroque violinist Christoph Poppen and soprano Monika Mauch. Based on the research of Prof. Helga Thoene, this is a unique interweaving of Bach’s Partita in D minor for solo violin with a selection of Chorale verses crowned by the epic Ciaconna, in which instrumentalist and vocalists are united.

The group continues in its quest to forge relationships with living composers, often in an orchestral context. In 1999, they premiered Miroirs des Temps by Unsuk Chin with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Kent Nagano. In the same year, James MacMillan’s Quickening, commissioned jointly by the BBC and the Philadelphia Orchestra, was premiered at the BBC Proms. With Lorin Maazel and the New York Philharmonic, they performed the world premiere of Stephen Hartke’s 3rd Symphony which was subsequently premiered in Europe by the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern and Christoph Poppen. They have also collaborated with the Munich Chamber Orchestra with a new work by Erkki-Sven Tüür. In 2007 they joined forces with the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra to premiere Nunc Dimittis by the Russian composer Alexander Raskatov, also recording this for ECM. In 2009 worked with the Arditti Quartet performing a substantial new work, Et Lux by Wolfgang Rihm.

A new development for the group began in August 2008 with the premiere at the Edinburgh International Festival of a music theatre project written by Heiner Goebbels in a production by the Théâtre Vidy, Lausanne: I went to the house but did not enter. This has subsequently been presented throughout Europe and the US.

With the release of their third collaboration with Jan Garbarek on the ECM label, Officium Novum, the group continues to tour extensively in Europe. The composer Alexander Raskatov features highly in their planning as does a new work by Nico Muhly which they will tour with the viol group Fretwork.

Booklet for Transeamus