Christopher Hilliard

Arvo Pärt - Arbos (1987) {ECM New Series 1325}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 226 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 141 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 38 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1987 ECM Records | ECM New Series 1325 / 831 959-2
Classical / Contemporary / Avant-Garde / Choral / Chamber Music

Pärt's 1987 release, Arbos, shows the composer working within his medium, bringing forth a body of music sacred in sound and message and presenting new compositional techniques. Utilizing a limited palette of tones, arranged in repeating patterns, these works are often (understandably) categorized with the works of Glass, Reich, and Riley. The tonal palette is often borrowed from European medieval styles, and this, in conjunction with the liturgical subject matter, make these new compositions feel centuries old.

William Byrd - Motets And Mass For Four Voices (1994) {ECM New Series 1512}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 232 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 126 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 22 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1994 ECM Records | ECM New Series 1512
Classical / Renaissance / Choral

William Byrd (1543-1623) has been called the greatest English composer, an arbiter of the sublime and master of his craft. And while discerning early music listeners have a fair number of recordings to choose from in order to put any stake into this claim, this offering from ECM is as sensitive an introduction as any into all things Byrd.

Arvo Pärt - De Profundis (1999) {Harmonia Mundi HMU 907182}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 272 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 178 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 31 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1996, 1999 Harmonia Mundi USA | HMU 907182
Classical / Contemporary Classical / Choral / Neo-Classical

Paul Hillier’s Theatre of Voices, like the Hilliard Ensemble with whom he was associated before settling in America, have given the music of Arvo Part a prominent place in their repertoire. Hillier has also written a book on Part – from which his notes accompanying this CD are mostly drawn (The Music of Arvo Part; OUP: 1997) – and in the collective interview run in last September’s issue (page 14) he described his first encounter with several of Part’s scores, “Something leapt out at me: this was the kind of music I had been waiting to perform”.