Hilliard Ensemble

The Hilliard Ensemble is one of the world's foremost male a capella ensembles. Their repertory ranges from the medieval to the modern, to which they bring a unique sound honed by years of performing together. The ensemble consists of David James (countertenor), Rogers Covey-Crump (tenor), Steven Harrold (tenor), and Gordon Jones (baritone), a basic constituency which formed in 2001. The core of the group's repertory is drawn from the ample volume of scores for four-voice ATTB ensemble, a disposition which is sometimes expanded for certain programs and especially on the records from the 1980s. The ensemble takes a cooperative approach to program planning, while the undirected performances allow a spontaneity which is sometimes difficult to achieve in more closely controlled environments.

Based in the UK, the ensemble's historical contribution to the recorded discography of early music has been substantial, as evidenced by this page, where several recordings have been among the most influential for the repertory. Their name is taken from the English miniaturist Nicholas Hilliard (c.1537-1619), and is perhaps not incidentally related to that of former member Paul Hillier, who provided much of the early program planning before moving to the US. The list of singers who have been members or performed with the group in the past reads like a who's who of English male voices, including Paul Agnew, David Beavan, Michael Chance, Charles Daniels, Paul Elliott, Michael George, David Gould, Robert Jones, Leigh Nixon, Mark Padmore, John Potter, and Ashley Stafford.

This document is currently under construction. Please help me by providing additional information, or correcting any mistakes. Thank you.

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Discography

(chronological, by recording date)

17th & 18th Century Songs & Catches

Recorded: 70s?
Saga Classics 3332

The Romantic Englishman

Recorded 8/77
Meridian 77002 (LP)

Popular Music from the Time of Henry VIII

Recorded: 1977; Also: Saga 2257
Saga Classics 5444

Songs for a Tudor King

Fayrfax / Browne / Cornysh, etc.
Recorded: 1978 ; Also: Saga 3378
Saga Classics 5461

Power: Masses & Motets

Recorded: 9/80 ; Previously: EMI Reflexe 63064
Virgin Edition 61345

The Merry Companions

Songs and Catches from Purcell to Arne
Recorded: 1981?
Saga Classics 5477

Isaac: Sacred & Secular Works

w/ Kees Boeke Consort
Recorded: 12/81 ; Previously: HMV 1466921 (LP)
EMI Reflexe 63063

De Monte: Sacred & Secular Works

w/ Kees Boeke Consort
Recorded: 12/81 ; Previously: HMV 1466931 (LP)
EMI Reflexe 63428

Medieval English Music - Anon 14th & 15th centuries

Recorded: 9/82
Harmonia Mundi musique d'abord 1901106

Rore: Le Vergine

Recorded: 9/82
Harmonia Mundi musique d'abord 1901107

Dunstable: Motets

Recorded: 9/82 ; Previously: EMI Reflexe 49002
Virgin Edition 61342

Josquin: Motets and Chansons

Recorded: 2/83 ; Previously: EMI Reflexe 49209 / Angel S-38040
Virgin Veritas Edition 61302

Marenzio: Madrigals

Recorded: 1983
UEA Recordings 82126 (LP)

Schütz: St. Matthew Passion

Recorded: 9/83 ; Previously: Angel DS-38167 (LP)
EMI Reflexe 49200

Lassus: Motets, Stabat Mater, Chansons

Recorded: 9/83 ; Previously: EMI Reflexe 49210 / Angel DS-38156 (LP)
Virgin Veritas Edition 61166

Lassus: Penitential Psalms

w/ Kees Boeke Consort
Recorded: ? ; Previously: EMI Reflexe 49211 (1986)
Virgin Edition 61216 (2 CDs)

Byrd: Masses

Recorded: 10/83
EMI Reflexe 63441

J.S. Bach: Motets

w/ Knabenchor Hannover & London Baroque
Recorded: 7/84 ; Previously: Angel DFO-38241 (LP)
EMI Reflexe 49204

Ockeghem: Requiem / Missa Mi-Mi

Recorded: 9/84 ; Previously EMI Reflexe 49213
Virgin Veritas Edition 61219

The Singing Club

Ravenscroft / Lawes / Purcell / Arne
Recorded: 9/84
Harmonia Mundi 901153

Sumer is Icumen in

Medieval English Songs
Recorded: 9/84
Harmonia Mundi 901154

Palestrina: Canticum canticorum / Motets Book IV / Spiritual Madrigals

Recorded: 11/84 ; Previously: EMI Reflexe 49010
Virgin Veritas Edition 61168

Schütz: Schwanengesang - Opus Ultimum

Recorded: 1985? ; Previously: EMI Reflexe 49214
Virgin Veritas Edition 61306 (2 CDs)

Dufay: Missa L'homme armé / Motets

Recorded: 1/86 ; Previously: EMI Reflexe 70 426 (LP)
EMI Reflexe 47628

Byrd: Songs of Sundrie Natures

w/ London Baroque
Recorded: 3/86
EMI Reflexe 47961

Tallis: The Lamentations of Jeremiah

Lamentations, Mass for 4 voices, Motets
Recorded: 9/86
ECM New Series 1341

Machaut: Messe de Notre Dame

w/ Le Lai de la Fonteinne & Ma fin est mon commencement
Recorded: 3/87 & 2/89
Hyperion 66358

Sacred and Secular Music from Six Centuries

Recorded: 3/87 & 2/89
Hyperion 66370

Music from the time of Christian IV

Recorded: 4/87
BIS 389

Draw on Sweet Night

English Madrigals
Recorded: 5/87
EMI Reflexe 49197

Ockeghem: Missa Prolationum and Marian Motets

Recorded: 4/88
EMI Reflexe 49798

Perotin

Recorded: 9/88
ECM New Series 1385

Dowland: Ayres

Recorded: 9/88
EMI Reflexe 49805

Josquin Desprez: Missa Hercules Dux Ferrariae, etc.

Recorded: 5/89
EMI Reflexe 49960

German Romantic Partsongs

Schubert / Schumann / Cornelius / Reger / Strauss
Recorded: 9/89
EMI Reflexe 54017

Medieval Music

Recorded: 1/90
Conifer Records "Sunday Times Music Collection" 4

Gesualdo: Tenebrae Responsories

Recorded: 3/90
ECM New Series 21422 (2 CDs)

Pierre de la Rue: Missa Cum iocunditate / Motets

Recorded: 9/90; Previously: EMI Reflexe 54082
Virgin Edition 61392

The Old Hall Manuscript

Recorded: 9/90 ; Previously: EMI Reflexe 54111
Virgin Edition 61393

Introitus

w/ Hespèrion XX
Recorded: compilation & 1990
EMI Reflexe 55207

Spanish and Mexican Renaissance Vocal Music

Music in the Age of Columbus / Music in the New World
Recorded: 1/91 ; Previously: EMI Reflexe 54341
Virgin Edition 61394 (2 CDs)

Morales: Missa Mille regretz / Magnificat

w/ Junta de Andalucia
Recorded: 1992?
Almaviva 0101

Walter Frye

Recorded: 1/92
ECM New Series 1476

Italian Renaissance Madrigals

Recorded: ?
EMI Reflexe 54435

Codex Speciálník

Recorded: 1/93
ECM New Series 1504

Lassus: Missa pro defunctis / Prophetiae Sibyllarum

Recorded: 1993
ECM 1658

Sweet love, sweet hope

Music from a 15th-century Bodleian manuscript
Recorded: 1996
Isis Records 030

Perotin and the Ars Antiqua

Recorded: 8/96
Hilliard Live 1001

For Ockeghem

Recorded: 1997
Hilliard Live 1002

Antoine Brumel

Recorded: 1997
Hilliard Live 1003

Guillaume Dufay - Missa Se la face ay pale

Recorded: 1998
Hilliard Live 1004

In Paradisum - Victoria: Officium defunctorum / Palestrina

Released: 2000
ECM 1653

Machaut: Motets

Released: 2004
ECM 1823

Gombert: Missa Media Vita In Morte Sumus

Released: 2006
ECM 1884

In each case, the catalog number given in italics is the most recent known release; only a percentage are currently available.

Modern Recordings

Arvo Pärt: Arbos

w/ many other performers
Recorded: 8/86 & 1/87
ECM New Series 1325

Arvo Pärt: Passio

Recorded: 3/88
ECM New Series 1370

Arvo Pärt: Miserere

Recorded 9/90 & 12/90
ECM New Series 1430

Giya Kancheli: Abii ne viderem

w/ many other performers
ECM New Series 1510

Officium

w/ Jan Garbarek
Recorded: 9/93
ECM New Series 1525

Gavin Bryars: Vita Nova

ECM New Series 1533

Arvo Pärt: Litany

ECM New Series 1592

A Hilliard Songbook

ECM New Series 1614/15 (2 CDs)

Mnemosyne

w/ Jan Garbarek
ECM New Series 21700 (2 CDs)

Gavin Bryars: Cadman Requiem

w/ Fretwork
Point Music 462 511

Morimur (after J.S. Bach)

w/ Christoph Poppen
ECM New Series 1765 (2 CDs)

Andrew Keeling: Quickening the Dead

w/ Bacchanalia / Susanna Pell
Recorded: 10/98
Riverrun 55

Lockerby Memorial Concert

w/ Gavin Bryars / Fretwork
Gavin Bryars Recordings 3

Bach-Webern: Ricercar

w/ Munich Chamber Orchestra - Christoph Poppen
ECM New Series 1774

Cornelius de Bondt: Blood

w/ Nederlands Blazers Ensemble
Nederlands Blazers Ensemble "Live" 4

Thy Kiss of a Divine Nature

The Contemporary Perotin
Released: 2006
Arthaus Musik 100 695 (2 DVDs + CD)

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