Officium (album)
Officium | ||||
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Live album by | ||||
Released | September 1994[1] | |||
Recorded | September 1993 | |||
Venue | Propstei St. Gerold Austria | |||
Genre | Jazz, Gregorian chant | |||
Length | 77:34 | |||
Label | ECM New Series ECM 1525 | |||
Producer | Manfred Eicher | |||
Jan Garbarek chronology | ||||
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Officium is an album by Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek and British male vocal quartet Hilliard Ensemble recorded at the monastery of Propstei St. Gerold in Austria in September 1993 and released on ECM the following year.
Background
[edit]Brought together by producer Manfred Eicher, this collaboration—based on 12th- to 16th-century liturgical works by composers including Cristóbal de Morales and Perotinus Magnus[2]—has become one of the most successful releases on the ECM label, achieving sales of more than 1.5 million.[3] Following a number of successful concert tours, a second collaborative album, Mnemosyne, was released in 1999 followed by Officium Novum (2010) and Remember me, my dear (2019).[4]
Reception
[edit]Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
AllMusic awards the album with 3½ stars and Richard S. Ginell's review says: "Recorded in a heavily reverberant Austrian monastery, the voices sometimes develop in overwhelming waves, and Garbarek rides their crest, his soprano saxophone soaring in the monastery acoustic, or he underscores the voices almost unobtrusively, echoing the voices, finding ample room to move around the modal harmonies yet applying his sound sparingly."[5]
Marius Gabriel remarked that Officium is "what Coltrane hears in heaven".[7]
Track listing
[edit]- "Parce mihi domine" (from the Officium Defunctorum by Cristóbal de Morales) – 6:42
- "Primo tempore" (Anonymous) – 8:03
- "Sanctus" (Anonymous) – 4:44
- "Regnanten Sempiterna" (Anonymous) – 5:36
- "O Salutaris Hostia" (Pierre de la Rue) – 4:34
- "Procedentem sponsum" (Anonymous) – 2:50
- "Pulcherrima rosa" (Anonymous) – 6:55
- "Parce mihi domine" (de Morales) – 5:35
- "Beata viscera" (Magister Perotinus) – 6:34
- "De spineto nata rosa" (Anonymous) – 2:30
- "Credo" (Anonymous) – 2:06
- "Ave maris stella" (Guillaume Du Fay) – 4:14
- "Virgo flagellatur" (Anonymous) – 5:19
- "Oratio Ieremiae" (Anonymous) – 5:00
- "Parce mihi domine" (de Morales) – 6:52
Personnel
[edit]Musicians
[edit]- Jan Garbarek – soprano and tenor saxophones
- Hilliard Ensemble
- David James – countertenor
- Rogers Covey-Crump – tenor
- John Potter – tenor
- Gordon Jones – baritone
Technical personnel
[edit]- Peter Laenger - tonmeister
Certifications
[edit]Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
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Netherlands (NVPI)[8] | Gold | 50,000^ |
Norway (IFPI Norway)[9] | Gold | 25,000* |
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[10] | Gold | 25,000^ |
United Kingdom (BPI)[11] | Gold | 100,000^ |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. |
References
[edit]- ^ "Officium". ECM.
- ^ Stewart, Zan (4 November 1994). "Carving Out a Place for Hybrid Music : Jazz: 'Officium's' mix of a capella vocals and saxman Jan Garbarek has become an unexpected top seller. The music is hard to categorize, even for the artists themselves". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 18 November 2020. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
- ^ In Conversation With Jan Garbarek, jazz.com Archived 22 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Information on new CD Officium Novum
- ^ a b Ginell, R. S.Allmusic Review: Officium accessed 11 March 2010
- ^ Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 525. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.
- ^ What Coltrane hears in heaven by Marius Gabriel
- ^ "Dutch album certifications – Jan Garbarek – Officium" (in Dutch). Nederlandse Vereniging van Producenten en Importeurs van beeld- en geluidsdragers. Retrieved 1 March 2020. Enter Officium in the "Artiest of titel" box. Select 1999 in the drop-down menu saying "Alle jaargangen".
- ^ "IFPI Norsk platebransje Trofeer 1993–2011" (in Norwegian). IFPI Norway. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
- ^ "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards ('Officium')". IFPI Switzerland. Hung Medien. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
- ^ "British album certifications – Jan Garbarek – Officium". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 1 March 2020.