Hoquetus - Medieval European Vocal Music / Hillier, Theatre Of Voices

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Ostensibly a study in the art of mostly vocal compositions based on the practice of hocketing, this excursion by Paul Hillier's Theatre of Voices goes well beyond a study of technique. It's a breathtaking glide through ancient music, to be sure, but it's also a fascinating look at how relatively late medievalists such as Guillaume de Machaut advanced musical processes documented in the Bamberg, Montpellier, Faenza, and Ivrea codices as well as in a variety of other collections. Hocketing is the process whereby multiple voices carry multiple parts simultaneously, with one voice extending beneath another, often providing a melodic backbone for improvisation. On Hillier's sonically peerless collection, you get almost ostentatious slipperiness on the low-register vocal in a 14th-century homage to St. Thomas (à Becket), and then you get a 13th-century piece from the Montpellier Codex in which a dizzying pair of upper-register voices sings in hockets while a lower-register chant continues beneath, almost viscerally piling polyphony. Hillier has excelled at what could have been an academic mission, and he's contributed a great deal to making the history of musical development poignantly beautiful. In addition, four organ solos fall into the sequencing of vocal tracks, allowing points of rest for the ear following the multitude of voices and thrilling keyboard examples, to boot. --Andrew Bartlett

Tracks:

Hoquetus: In seculum 'Longum'
Hoquetus: In seculum 'Viellatoris'
Hoquetus: In Secelum 'Breve'
Hoquetus: In seculum 'D'Amiens longum'
Hoquetus: Iam nubes dissolvitur-Solem
Hoquetus: Entre Adan et Hanikel-Chies bien seans
Hoquetus: Je n'amerai I
Hoquetus: Je n'amerai II
Hoquetus: Ave maris stella (Organ Solo)
Hoquetus: Tous corps qui-De souspirant cuer
Hoquetus: Musicalis sciencia-Sciencie laudabili
Hoquetus: Or sus, vous dormes trop (Organ Solo)
Hoquetus: Ave rex gentis Anglorum
Hoquetus: Deus tourum militum-De flore martyrum
Hoquetus: Ave miles celestis-Ave rex patrone
Hoquetus: Beata viscera
Hoquetus: Thomas gemma Cantuarie-Thomas cesus in Doveria
Hoquetus: Doleo super te-Absolon, fili mi
Hoquetus: Epiphaniam domino canamus-Balaam inquit
Hoquetus: Campanis cum cymbalis-Honoremus dominam
Hoquetus: sangilio (Organ Solo)
Hoquetus: Vanecie mundi splendor-Michael qui Stena domus
Hoquetus: Amor mi fa cantar
Hoquetus: O zentil madona mia
Hoquetus: Per larghi prati
Hoquetus: 'Mediolano' Sanctus
Hoquetus: Cum martelli-La manta
Hoquetus: Benedicamus domino (Organ Solo)
Hoquetus: Ut te per omnes celitus-Ingens alumnus Padue

Amazon.com

Ostensibly a study in the art of mostly vocal compositions based on the practice of hocketing, this excursion by Paul Hillier's Theatre of Voices goes well beyond a study of technique. It's a breathtaking glide through ancient music, to be sure, but it's also a fascinating look at how relatively late medievalists such as Guillaume de Machaut advanced musical processes documented in the Bamberg, Montpellier, Faenza, and Ivrea codices as well as in a variety of other collections. Hocketing is the process whereby multiple voices carry multiple parts simultaneously, with one voice extending beneath another, often providing a melodic backbone for improvisation. On Hillier's sonically peerless collection, you get almost ostentatious slipperiness on the low-register vocal in a 14th-century homage to St. Thomas (à Becket), and then you get a 13th-century piece from the Montpellier Codex in which a dizzying pair of upper-register voices sings in hockets while a lower-register chant continues beneath, almost viscerally piling polyphony. Hillier has excelled at what could have been an academic mission, and he's contributed a great deal to making the history of musical development poignantly beautiful. In addition, four organ solos fall into the sequencing of vocal tracks, allowing points of rest for the ear following the multitude of voices and thrilling keyboard examples, to boot. --Andrew Bartlett

Customer Reviews:

Hocketing, anyone?.......2001-02-22

Although this well documented and superbly performed CD is intended as an academic demonstration of the ars antiqua practice of hocketing, it also makes for a nice late evening relaxation piece. The vocal acrobatics are nicely alternated with some atmospheric organ pieces from the same era.

Track Listings:

Track Listings

track listings

Track Listings

Tuning to the Rooster

Beethoven: Complete Piano Sonatas, Vol. 3

Californication [IMPORT] [EXTRA TRACKS]

The Other Side of Jobim

Certified Live [Import]

Best of the Best

Billboard Top Christmas Hymns

Beethoven: Leonore Overture No. 3; Symphony No. 5

Bail Is Set at $6m [Import]

Beauty & The Beast

Atlantic Jazz: Kansas City

Ayer, Hoy Y Siempre, Vol. 1

Amor, Vida y Sentimiento [Import]

Hoochie Momma

A World for Her