The Hilliard Ensemble

Among the array of British vocal groups sometimes grouped together as the “Oxbridge Sound,” several ensembles concentrate on early repertoire. Within the company of Gothic Voices, the Tallis Scholars, Pro Cantione Antiqua, the Oxford Camerata, and the Sixteen, the Hilliard Ensemble stood apart through sustained activity and stylistic range. Founded by baritone Paul Hillier, a Guildhall School of Music alumnus, together with three fellow singers two of whom had studied at Oxford, the quartet took its name from the Elizabethan miniaturist Nicholas Hilliard. Its founding purpose was to examine the then-rarely performed polyphony of the medieval and Renaissance eras. The ensemble’s repertory eventually spanned the eleventh through the seventeenth centuries while also embracing newly composed vocal works.

Although Hillier departed in 1990 to assume university posts in the United States, the central personnel remained stable for many years: countertenor David James, tenors Rogers Covey-Crump and John Potter, and bass Gordon Jones. Tenor Steven Harrold replaced Potter upon the latter’s exit in 1998. During Hillier’s leadership the group focused chiefly on English and Netherlandish repertory. Landmark recordings included pioneering accounts of Leonel Power and the Old Hall Manuscript, selections illustrating the “Contenance Angloise” in the works of Dufay, Ockeghem, and Josquin, and authoritative readings of later English masters such as Thomas Tallis and William Byrd. One notable departure from this core territory was the ensemble’s 1989 recording of Pérotin, an interpretation that proved both musically compelling and widely debated. Throughout this period the singers performed almost invariably one voice to a part, producing a characteristically full, resonant tone and faultless intonation. Hillier further insisted on historically informed pronunciation, rendering Latin texts by English composers in contemporary regional dialects and thereby reshaping the sonic character of the music.

Even while Hillier directed the ensemble, and with greater emphasis after his departure, the Hilliard Ensemble invested substantial effort in contemporary music. Multiple ECM releases showcased the tintinnabuli style of Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, while a 1995 disc presented Giya Kancheli’s Abii Ne Viderem. The 1996 anthology A Hilliard Songbook: New Music for Voices documented commissions and the outcomes of the Hilliard Composition Prizes, featuring works by Morton Feldman, James MacMillan, Ivan Moody, and Joanne Metcalf. A singular partnership with Norwegian jazz saxophonist Jan Garbarek produced the 1994 album Officium, in which saxophone improvisation floated above the resonant textures of chant and Renaissance motets; the recording held the top position on classical charts for several months. Subsequent projects included appearances with the Arditti Quartet in music of Wolfgang Rihm in 2009 and with Fretwork in music of Nico Muhly in 2011. The 2013 release Il Cor Tristo juxtaposed sixteenth-century pieces by Bernardo Pisano and Jacques Arcadelt with a new composition by Roger Marsh. Transeamus, issued late in 2014, returned the group to fifteenth-century repertory and served as its final recording before retirement at year’s end. In October 2019 ECM released Remember Me, My Dear, an archival concert recording from the 2014 farewell tour with Garbarek that marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of Officium.