Hilliard Ensemble, calling time in December 2014

[bluestateprommer]

There was a feature on NPR this past weekend about the Hilliard Ensemble, with the news that the group will disband next year, on December 20, 2014. Link to the feature:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/2013/12/19/255572105/leaders-in-early-music-face-a-final-curtain-with-grace

Not that my voice counts from this side of the pond, but the BBC might want to consider offering David James a radio show, after the group disbands.

[Richard Tarleton]

Many thanks for this, bluestateprommer, and good call. At least one BBC insider is contributing to the Forum at present, so you never know, the suggestion may filter back

I was lucky enough to hear them on their Officium Novum tour with Jan Garbarek in a cathedral acoustic in 2010 - amazing. I seem to remember their Gesualdo Tenebrae was a BAL choice a while back - one of my most treasured early music disc sets.

[french frank]

There was a feature on NPR this past weekend about the Hilliard Ensemble, with the news that the group will disband next year, on December 20, 2014. Link to the feature:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/2013/12/19/255572105/leaders-in-early-music-face-a-final-curtain-with-grace

Not that my voice counts from this side of the pond, but the BBC might want to consider offering David James a radio show, after the group disbands.

Well, 40 is a good round number and if DJ is the one survivor from the early days, and he feels he wants to finish ... Great idea, though, bsp - a new programme on Radio 3 called - what? Spirit of the Age? Music Restored? The Early ...

[amateur51]

Well, 40 is a good round number and if DJ is the one survivor from the early days, and he feels he wants to finish ... Great idea, though, bsp - a new programme on Radio 3 called - what? Spirit of the Age? Music Restored? The Early ...

Great ideas coming thick & fast - let's hope that someone is watching

[ardcarp]

Does the Hilliard Ensmble have to cease existing because its director (still Paul Hillier?) wants to retire? Or is this mutual consent amongst its members? And is the brand-name 'Hilliard' patented? Many musical ensembles continue after their founders bow out.

I mention this because a certain rather good and flourishing local amateur choir has just 'ceased to exist' because its founder has decided it should. A strange idea, IMO.

[Old Grumpy]

Paul Hillier has not been associated with the Hilliard Ensemble for some years now. The Ensemble were named after Nicholas Hilliard. I dare say the pun was intentional though. The Ensemble were featured on In Tune recently. Some of their music is to be featured tonight on LJ. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03lzqc7

[jean]

Didn't Gothic Voices continue without a director?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I mention this because a certain rather good and flourishing local amateur choir has just 'ceased to exist' because its founder has decided it should. A strange idea, IMO.

They could always do a "Legge/Philharmonia" and continue without their founder as the "New Good and Flourishing Amateur Choir".

[Richard Tarleton]

Does the Hilliard Ensmble have to cease existing because its director (still Paul Hillier?) wants to retire? Or is this mutual consent amongst its members? And is the brand-name 'Hilliard' patented? Many musical ensembles continue after their founders bow out.

I think David James explains it pretty well in the link in bsp's post - sounds like mutual consent to me. He explains the options open to them, and how they did offer the newest member of the group, Stephen Harold, the chance to carry on as a franchise, Kings Singers-style, but that he didn't want to. David James says they could have continued (well, listen to the clip) but compares them to a string quartet who would have found it difficult to take on a new member if someone had to drop out for health reasons etc.....

Having said which, of course, string quartets vary - some just stop, others carry on - the Amadeus stopped after Peter Schidlof's death, the Allegri became in effect a franchise. Like Ian Fleming's suit - his tailor said he repaired IF's suit so many times, it was a case of sewing new material onto Mr Fleming's original buttons.

[doversoul1]

The Hilliard was featured on Music Matters on 7th December. It’s still available here.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01n29kb

[bluestateprommer]

Thread bump on the Hilliard Ensemble's final concert, today in London at Wigmore Hall, from this article in The Guardian by Gordon Jones. I envy anyone who will be in attendance there.

[jean]

I see they trace their name to Nicholas Hilliard, but make no mention of their founder and sometime director Paul Hillier...

.

[Richard Tarleton]

I see they trace their name to Nicholas Hilliard, but make not mention of their founder and sometime director Paul Hillier...

David James (founder member)
Now, in our 40th and final year, perhaps it's as good a time as any to clarify some of the misconceptions that have hounded us. We are often asked why we called ourselves the Hilliard Ensemble; many mistakenly think it was after one of our founding members, Paul Hillier (not Hilliard, in fact). Actually we named ourselves after the Elizabethan miniaturist Nicholas Hilliard, not only because he was contemporaneous with much of the late 15th and 16th-century music at the core of our repertoire, but also because he is renowned for his exquisite detailing and refined artistry - things we aspired to musically.

[jean]

Well, he wouldn't have to have been called Hilliard - it would have been the adjective you'd derive from his name.

I always assumed the name was a play on both.

[Keraulophone]

I was fortunate to catch them in Taunton at their antipenultimate concert, when they sang several pieces from their final CD Transeamus. They included several pieces by Anon and others from the C15th, and a few arrangements by Komitas of old Armenian church melodies. Their tuning and ensemble is quite mesmerising, especially when heard live, and much of their vocal colour, when all four are singing, is down to the remarkable sound of countertenor David James, sole survivor from the original group. To be able to sing as magically as he does after forty or more years is quite extraordinary.