David Hillier

David Lang's the little match girl passion, for vocal quartet doubling on percussion instruments, won the Pulitzer Prize in 2008. It's a strong, striking piece with a surprisingly potent emotional punch. Part of its effectiveness derives from the story itself, which is so achingly poignant that it can hardly fail to raise a lump in the throat. The text is primarily compiled from the story by Hans Christian Andersen and from familiar sections from Bach's St. Matthew Passion, which sound fresh and new in English translation. Lang's clear-eyed avoidance of sentimentality saves the story from the bathos into which it could easily sink in a less skillful musical setting.

These first reissues in Virgin Veritas’s new Hilliard Edition mark a belated tribute to one of the most enduring names of the early music scene, and the long-awaited return to the catalogue of some of its finest work. English music often has the knack of bringing out the best in The Hilliard Ensemble, so it is appropriate that three of the present batch of discs are devoted to the period when English music was at its most influential, the early- to mid-fifteenth century. Last year’s Gramophone Early Music Award, given to a recording of the music of John Dunstable by the Orlando Consort (Metronome, 2/96), was actually the second time the composer has been so honoured: The Hilliards’ disc won the award in 1984. Nearly 15 years on, it is more than worthy to stand alongside its successor.